


Tainted heart

by Moonlightdance



Category: Tintenwelt-Trilogie | Inkheart Trilogy - Cornelia Funke
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Freeform, I also suck at Summaries, I suck at tags, Language, Maybe angsty?, Violence, my take on it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2018-09-18 00:37:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 28,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9355190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlightdance/pseuds/Moonlightdance
Summary: The world is a dark and cruel place, at least the part of it that I know! When I was younger I thought I could run away to a place where I could be free..... I learned my lesson pretty quickly!I've never been outside the village in the Valley and here we life under the rules of a dangerous and dark man, when I was new here, after they collected me, I thought he ruled the whole world! Through the years I learned that he doesn't, and this is the only thing that gives me hope!





	1. Sick (because) of you

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfiction I ever wrote, and after finding it unfinished 4 years later on my phone I decided to re-write it, change it up a bit and post it online!

The world is a dark and cruel place, at least the part of it that I know! When I was younger I thought I could run away to a place where I could be free..... I learned my lesson pretty quickly!  
I've never been outside the village in the Valley and here we life under the rules of a dangerous and dark man, when I was new here, after they collected me, I thought he ruled the whole world! Through the years I learned that he doesn't, and this is the only thing that gives me hope! My will to survive comes from the thought that one day, I might flee from here, and find a place where I can live without fear! 

\------

I felt as though my life was ending when Capricorn announced "Basta, you've done me a great service lately, so I decided to give you what you wanted!" My insides squirmed, it was well known that Basta had asked Capricorn for my hand, he said I was pretty and he disliked it when the other guys looked at me, he wanted to make sure non of the guys would ever dare to touch or even talk to me! Belonging to him meant I could never be free! Every time I'd try to run away, would be punished. A cold shiver ran down my spine, he was known for being brutal, sadistic... A murderer!  
I carefully raised my head from the floor tiles I was cleaning to see Basta and Capricorn looking at me. I heard the other men whisper over their breakfast and some glanced at me. A few looked disgusted, some pitying me, others looked jealous in Bastas direction. I hated all of them, I hated them with a burning passion! But if I would manage to escape, where would I go? Back home? My parents had offered me to Capricorn as a gift when I had been five years old.  
He had wanted protection money, my father had been the CEO of a largely expanding company, and as I recalled they had had more money than they ever could have spent in their life, but instead my mother had grabbed my arm and pushed me out the door onto the dirty ground outside "take her! She can work! She'll be a greater service to you than the money" my parents had gone wild with ideas for what reasons Capricorn's men should take me instead of the money... And had convinced them. I wasn't sure who I hated more, Capricorn and his men for taking me against my will, or my parents who had offered me so freely to them. For the last fourteen years I had lived here, in Capricorn's village, had cleaned clothes, cooked food, scrubbed the floors until my hands bled and had cursed them all! About a week after I got here, and I had been beaten by Mortola for accidentally forgetting to wash one of her dresses, I had run out into the gardens! I wasn't allowed to leave the property and the guards would bring me right back to her if I tried, so I just went as far away as I could, so nobody would see my tears. I sat under a big tree and cried when a young boy approached me "you look ugly when you cry!" I was so shocked to see him that the tears stopped immediately. "Who are you?" I carefully asked, he seemed to be older than me, around eight or nine years old. my voice rough from crying. "My name is Basta, the crow wants you back inside! Now wipe your tears away, and remember, the next time I see you cry, I'll cut a nice smile into your face! I hate seeing petty things bawling over nothing!" As if he wanted to underline his words he had taken out a knife from inside his pockets and held it up to my face. "You won't make any trouble on our way back, right?" He asked, a smile as sweet as sugar on his lips, the threat in his voice as visible as the knife that was still awfully close to my throat. I quickly but carefully nodded my head "no" he grabbed my arm "that's a good girl, wouldn't want to get blood on my knife anyway!" As he snapped the knife close agin and pocketed it he pulled and pushed me back toward the big house! I quickly shook my head to get rid of the memories, that time he had seemed so big, strong and dangerous that I didn't dare run away from him.. I never could! The last five years he had come by every now and then, and started talking to me. I always felt like running whenever he came closer, but I knew that if I obviously avoided him the consequences could be dire for me.  
He had given me expensive bracelets that he had stolen somewhere and put them onto my wrist giving me the feeling of being handcuffed, and the necklaces he sometimes slipped around my neck in the big church when all the other men could see it felt like wearing a leash or a noose! I knew that Capricorn liked me as well, that's why he never allowed me to leave, while all the other maids would get at least one weekend each year where they were free to leave the village to see their family's, I was forced to spend my free weekend in his village. I couldn't quite remember how the outside world looked like, and I hated being locked up like a bird in a cage, though it had a good side to it, I often listened to the other girls in our dormitory telling their stories about how Capricorn's men would harass them sometimes and then they always looked longingly at me and said things like "be great-full that the big boss and his best killer like you, the others would never touch you knowing one of those has his eye on you!" But what would happen to me now that Capricorn had allowed Basta to marry me? No one would ask me if I was okay with it anyway and even if Basta would propose to me, which I highly doubted, what would happen if I declined? Would he kill me? Would he use his knife to cut a new design into my face? Would he stop holding back the other men? Would they harass me as well, or even worse...My hands started shaking and I almost dropped the bucket of water I carried.  
I couldn't think this through! The thought was just to horrible!  
As I looked up from my shaking hand and the bucket again Basta came right up to me! I felt my stomach turn and thought I had to throw up, what would happen now? Technically speaking I couldn't know any of this, we maids weren't allowed to listen, though most of us still did, to the conversations in the great hall! I took a deep breath trying to convince my stomach to keep my sparse breakfast to myself and not share it with everyone as Elody came rushing over to me, and stood right in front of me, blocking Basta and stopping him in his tracks. Elody quickly grabbed the bucket from my hands and put it down onto the floor grabbing my hand and saying "Mortola, wants you in the kitchen immediately, Jenny cut herself and we are down one kitchen maid!" With those words she ran out of the hall, holding on to my hand, dragging me after her involuntarily. As soon as we were out of the church and out of reach for anyone to listen to our conversation Elody turned to me and smiled, "seems like I just saved your ass!" I nodded "do you really need me in the kitchen?" Elody grinned at me, "we do, but it's not really urgently...I just thought I had to get you out of there before you throw up onto your soon to be fiancé!" As she said this, my stomach turned again and this time I really did throw up into the next bush, along the road we were walking up to the big manor. Elody looked at me with a worried look on her face as she continued "I hate to be the one who does this to you, but now that you already lost your breakfast there's nothing worse that could happen to you right?" I carefully nodded my head, what was she getting at? "As soon as you are married you have to move into one of the villages houses with Basta and" Elody had just finished those words when my ears felt like they had been wrapped with cotton and pillows. I saw that her lips kept moving, but the sound didn't reach me as my vision went black and I collapsed.

A few people were talking in soft hushed voices around me as I regained consciousness, I kept my eyes closed and tried to remember what had happened, my head was buzzing, and I had a horrible taste in my mouth! I remembered talking to Elody, next I remembered throwing up in the middle of the road... And then I remembered what I had overheard in the church's great hall, and groaned. "She's waking up" "ugh finally, I thought she was dying!" "Shut up Gina that's not funny" judging by the voices I was back in my dorm and the other girls were there.... which meant it was night! I quickly opened my eyes, it was night indeed, the darkness creeped inside the room from the window and the girls had lit candles to illuminate the night in our room. Gina was the first to realize that I had woken up and stepped to my bed. "How are you?" I groaned, and she smiled. "we all came here as quickly as possible when Jenny told us that you had just been brought to the room and that you were unconscious!" I was brought? Someone carried me? My stomach turned again and I carefully looked at Elody, No she couldn't have, she was way to frail to carry me! I let my gaze wander to Jenny, her right hand was bandaged up to her elbow, that must be a huge cut! I tried to speak but my voice was hoarse and rough. Gina held a glass of water up to my mouth and with her stern motherly voice said "drink! It'll help!" I took a few sips of water and tried talking again, more successfully this time I croaked out "how did I get here? I remember collapsing outside?" The three girls looked at each other and Elody started kneading her fingers, guilt framed her face as she came up to my bed. "Tory, I am so sorry, I got scared when you collapsed so I ran back to the church and when I ran in there screaming that you needed help Basta was the first one who jumped up and followed me... He...sort of... Kinda...carried you up here! And waited by your side until Jenny took over!" My already turned stomach started squirming and I was glad when Gina held a bucket up to my face as I emptied my stomach into it again. Carefully she felt my forehead to check for a fever "either you caught a nasty virus, or you have an allergic reaction to that guys name" she said with a faint smile. "How am I supposed to do this?" I cried "I can't even hear his name without throwing up, how am I supposed to marry that guy and life with him?" Big tears rolled down my face, I knew it was silly, and it wouldn't help, but it felt good letting it out!  
I fell asleep late that night, still feeling the caring caresses on my arms and shoulders as I drifted of into a black restless sleep.

As I woke up the next morning I heard two voices talking in front of the dorm room, one pleading and soft, the other strict and harsh. The door opened and Gina entered the room with Mortola, saying "as you can see, she is pale and weak, she would only be in our way today, please tell her to stay in bed, I'll work a double shift without break!" She winked at me before Mortola pushed her to the side to take a closer look at me. She placed her cold hand on my forehead and looked at me skeptically. "She doesn't seem to be sick, yet you are right, she does indeed seem pale and weak, and after what I heard yesterday... Well I can't afford having you run around dropping and forgetting or mixing things up all day! You will spend the day in bed!" Mortola seemed to hate having to agree with Gina and after they left the room to go over the daily chores and see who could take over some of my chores I carefully stood up. My legs were weak and it felt like walking on pudding. As I walked over to the little bathroom we had attached to our room I held onto the furniture for support, not trusting my own body at all.  
When I looked into the small mirror I knew why Mortola had given in! I was very pale, my hair was stuck flat to my head, I had dark circles under my eyes and my lips were a weird shade of pale purple. After I washed my face and brushed my teeth I felt a little bit better, I had saved enough strength to grab the hairbrush on the side of the sink and started to detangle the mess that stuck to my scalp. It wasn't easy and the task took quite some time for my weakened body, but when I was finally done, I put my hair into a braid and pulled over a thin linen dress. It was like all of our dresses light blue and scratched a bit, but it was better than keeping the dress on I wore yesterday and all throughout the night. I heard a soft knock on the dorm door and hurried out of the bathroom. My first intention had been to open the door, but after I had exited the bathroom so quickly my head was spinning horribly again "come in" I called out in a weak voice, clinging to the table next to me so I wouldn't drop to the floor again.  
As the door opened I felt my breath hitch, and started to feel my consciousness slip away slowly. A small girl entered the room, and right behind her was Basta. The girl held a tray and looked quite helpless at me as I could see her lips form the words "are you okay?" I don't know if she whispered or talked very quiet, but again the sound didn't reach me. I tried to fight it, I didn't want to faint again, but again I could feel the consciousness slipping from me.

Suddenly strong hands held me up right and shook my shoulders, my vision was the first thing to return and I saw Bastas worried face bowed over me his hands still shaking me while my eyes tried to focus again. When the sound returned to me I could hear his voice again, it sounded a little bit worried and he had raised it a bit as he told me to "hang in there" and "stay with me". When he realized I was back to normal he pulled me onto my legs and slowly walked me over to my bed so I could sit down. The girl obviously had left the room, the tray was still on the table. "Thank you" I managed to mumble, he looked at me skeptically like he was expecting me to faint any second again but there was something else in his eyes as well... Why was he here? Was he planning on proposing to me when I was of sick? His cold eyes scanned my face for a sign that I would collapse, but when he found none he sighed and said "I came to see how you were doing, good thing I was there you would have hit your head on that table quite badly! Why were you wandering around anyway? The girls said you were weak!" I lowered my gaze, yes, why had I been walking around? I knew it made little sense to tell Basta about a thing called a "morning routine", so what would I say? I carefully looked up at him again expecting to see the usual anger his face showed when he had to wait for an answer, but it didn't show any signs of it! He seemed really worried! My stomach turned again, it felt wrong that he looked at me like this! "I wanted to go outside, I felt like fresh air would help me." I babbled the lie before I thought about it, and for a second his eyes gleamed! Was he thinking about going outside with me? Would he hold onto me, so he was able to catch me should I faint again? I felt my insides squirm in disgust. And quickly lowered my gaze so he couldn't see the disgusted look in my eyes. I felt his weight lifting of the bed where he had sat down next to me and looked up to see him walk over to the window. He opened it and looked back at me. "You're in no condition to go for a walk, besides that...it's raining!" His eyes lingered outside for a few long moments, long enough for me to think he had forgotten me, but then he turned and pulled a chair up to the window and held his hand out to me. "Come, I'll help you!" I slowly stood up, I had no intention to hold his hand, but when I felt my legs wabble again and tried to balance myself by holding out my hands a bit, he seemed to think I was hesitating and shy, he reached out and grabbed my hand. Everything inside me wanted to pull my hand away from him, but his grip was strong and it did help steadying me. Slowly I walked over to him and suppressed a disgusted shiver as he pushed me into the chair. Did he know how much I hated him? Was this his new game? Was it fun for him to torture me when I was already sick and weak? He walked around the chair to face me and when I lowered my gaze he got down on one knee and held my jaw in his hand so I couldn't turn my face away from him. He looked me clear in the eyes before he said "I know that you've been listening yesterday! Capricorn gave me permission to Marry you, and I will, you are what I want, and I always get what I want!"


	2. Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I know that you hate me!"
> 
> "I don't know if I hate you, but I do know that I hate this place!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little shorter than the first, but a lot sweeter as well!  
> Hope you enjoy!

"I know that you hate me."  
He stated flatly, my breath hitched, how could he? That was impossible! How did he know about this? As if he read the questions in my eyes, he continued. " I was on guard duty last night, so I stood underneath this window, I heard you girls talk and later when all of you were asleep and the guards were changing I came to see you! You talk in your sleep and you were begging someone not to force you to marry me...because you hate and fear me!" The sad expression in his face changed and all of a sudden he did look angry "is there someone else? Who is it? Cocorlell? Capricorn?" His voice was breathless and sad as he continued "what have I done to deserve your hate? All those years I held the guys away from you, tried to get you away from trouble, to keep you save! So why do you hate me?" As he looked back into my face his usually cold eyes seemed somewhat warm for the very first time, they were pleading and sadness was pooling in them. "Please, just tell me the reason why!" His voice was so low it wasn't more than a hushed whisper as he let go of my jaw, his hands dropped down to the sides of the chair, giving me no way out, he was bowing at my feet.... And all of a sudden I realized, I had no reason to hate him! He was right, he even if I hadn't known, he had been watching out for me, guarding me from the shadows. He had been mean to me when we meet, but we had been children back then, and holding a grudge for over nine years was really ridiculous! Carefully I thought about what I should say and do next, true Basta scared me, but the sad broken man in front of me had nothing in common with the big dangerous man I knew! He was showing me something new, something no one else would ever see and life to tell the tale, he was showing me his weak more human side! Carefully and very softly I ran my hands through his black hair, my face was turned toward the window and I felt like my gaze was miles away from this room as I said. "I don't know if I hate you! You never gave me a reason to do so, but I hate this place... And I know that once i marry you I can never be free..." After I said the first words and touched his hair his head shot up, eyes looking at me hopefully "but yesterday?" I slowly looked back at him. "Yesterday was just to much for me! I don't think I hate you, I think yesterday I just felt like it was you stealing my freedom forever!"  
His eyes grew wider, "I could never do that, and after you marry me, you are allowed to leave the village if I come with you!" With one hand he held my left hand, with the other he fiddled with his pocket, until he found what he had been looking for. A small silver ring with a big onyx surrounded by small diamonds was in his hand.  
"I planned on how to do this properly and in a really romantic and perfect way, but now is as good a time as any! Victorya, will you marry me?"


	3. Hope and decisions

I felt paralyzed, he may have phrased it as a question but his voice had sounded more like he was commanding me to marry him! He wasn't leaving me a choice, refusing him now was like asking to get killed!   
"I never hated you, but how can I marry a man I don't know enough to love?" I wanted to look at him, to see the emotions on his face, was he sad? Hurt? Angry? I just couldn't, I was to scared, when we were younger Mortola used to beat us every time we dared to look at the boys, and right now I felt like she would beat me again, like I did something forbidden! One time I had tried to run away and as a punishment Mortola had beaten me with a crowbar until she had broken one of my ribs, I just felt like the small girl again, kneeling in front of that dreadful woman, trying to suppress the tears so she wouldn't have another reason to hurt me.  
Basta stood up before me, but I kept my gaze on my lap, where my hands had started nervously kneading the fabric of my dress.   
For a few minutes he just stood in front of me, staring down at me. I hadn't even realized that I was holding my breath, but when the room started spinning around me again I remembered to breath.   
Suddenly he sighed, I just couldn't help it, carefully I raised my head to look at him, and saw that he looked at me a little bit sad, but there was also a strange determination in his eyes. "Every time you look at me, one might think you are looking at a monster! You look so scared... Are you afraid of me?" I carefully and very slowly nodded my head. Basta sighed again, "I didn't want to do this to you, but you leave me no other choice, you'll just have to learn to love me, and I promise you, if you won't learn to love me in a year, I'll help you get away from here, and I'll make sure none of Capricorn's men will ever find you!" With that he quickly took my hand and slid the ring on my left ring finger.  
"I'll get Mortola to start the preparations and ask Capricorn when we are allowed to get married, in the meantime, try to rest a bit." With that he was gone.   
After the door closed behind him I replayed every word he had said to me in my mind. I just had to make it through this marriage for one year, and after that he would personally get me out of here and get rid of all traces that could lead anyone to me, in just one year, I could be free forever!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual I hope you enjoyed reading :-)   
> Please leave a comment


	4. His Threat and her Smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really trying to upload a new chapter every day, if I skip a day or get of schedule I'm very sorry, school and works just a lot right now!

The day had slowly crept by, another girl had brought a watery soup that was obviously supposed to be supper. As the clouds passed by I stared out the window and watched the others go about their day. When the sky started to change its color from a light blue to a rosy pink and into the gold of dawn when slowly Elody, Gina and Jenny came back from work. They had just lit the candles and sat down together on Elody's bed so that tory could tell them about Basta, when all of a sudden there was an impatient knock on the door. Puzzled the girls looked at each other as Jenny rushed over to open the door.  
When Jenny opened the door, the girls could feel the room grow cold and an icy shiver ran down Victoria's spine. Out on the hallway was Mortola, looking furious her hands gripping her walking stick so hard her knuckles were turning white. Gina once had warned the girls not to ask about the stick, since she had learned the hard way that the only reason to carry it for her was to beat the girls with it. Mortola looked around the room as she stepped in and pointed to Victoria. "You! Follow me" she said with a voice that would have the devil scared. With an insecure glance Victoria stood up and followed Mortola onto the hallway where she closed the door to the dormitory and led her into a part of the manor Victoria had never been in.  
When Mortola stopped all of a sudden Victoria almost walked into her and quickly managed to regain her posture before Mortola opened the door and pushed her into the room. It was a big luxurious room, but Victoria had no time to take in the beauty, when she heard Mortola lock the door, her fear returned immediately.  
"How old are you?" She heard Mortola ask. "19 Madam" she quickly answered. Mortola repeated her answer and started circling her like a predator his prey "since when do you bleed?" Surprised by the question Victoria looked at the older woman. "Since I'm 14 madam, but might I ask why?" Mortola looked at her like a cat that had just torn of a birds wings and was now eager to torture it to death. "When have you stopped bleeding?" Now Victoria was completely confused, what was that monster getting at? She took together all her courage and looked the older woman straight into the face as she said "I'm sorry, but I don't understand your question" she felt it before her brain realized what was happening, Mortola's face was a distorted grimace as she hit her with her walking cane and screamed "when have you stopped bleeding little slut, how far are you?" Victoria lay on the ground, in pain as the old woman continued to beat and scream at her when she suddenly stopped. Victoria could feel her eyes burning holes into her bowed head as she heard the woman say "stand up" carefully she stood, her back, legs and arms hurt terribly and she could see a bruise the size of a watermelon starting to form on her arm. Mortola started circling her again, closer this time when she suddenly started laughing. "So you are telling me the big, dangerous Basta wants to marry you without you being pregnant?" Victoria knew it sounder unbelievable, having Mortola say it, made it sound impossible, but it was the truth, she had never touched any of the boys, and Basta had taken care of the boys not touching her! She carefully looked at the older woman again to see the mischievous gleam in her eyes as she carefully stated "madam I have never" she couldn't say more before Mortola started laughing hysterically again. "Well my Little flower" Mortola's voice dripping with sarcasm and evil glee as she continued talking " let me tell you about a little something that Basta will do to you after the wedding, I don't suppose you know about it, I only tell the girls what they need to know once they start bleeding!" Victoria's stomach turned, what was she gone hear now? Was there something important she missed? The way Mortola looked at her made her shiver in fear, it could only be bad! "And since it's gone be your first time you'll probably bleed and be in pain, but that is not as bad as the pain you go through once you deliver the child!" Mortola concluded. The girl in front of her looked pale, like she was gone faint or throw up, she had overdone it on purpose, if Basta was already stealing her boy's girl, she might as well make sure that none of them would enjoy it! After what she had just told the girl she couldn't imagine anyone wanting to get married, this was going to be a lot of fun! "Go back to your room now, it's late and I want to go to sleep" Mortola said with a last gleeful look at Victoria, but as the girl tried to walk towards the door her legs have in and she fell to the ground! "Useless little thing!" Mortola said as she walked towards the door and rang a bell. Just a few minutes later the door opened and Basta stood there, looking angry as usual. As he saw Mortola he was just starting to tell her that she better not dared to call him at this time when Mortola stepped aside and he could see Victoria laying on the ground. His face froze and he pressed his teeth together as he asked "what is she doing here?" Mortola smiled sweetly as she responded "we just had a friendly chat between girls but it appears your fiancé is a little bit to tired to find her way back to her room, I thought it would be best if you could escort her!" Bastas eyes nervously twitched between the evil old hag in front of him and the young girl on the ground, this wasn't the first time he was called to bring a girl back to her room, every time one of the girls gave into the guys and ended up pregnant Mortola invited them fora "girl talk" to her chambers. Most of the girls couldn't walk for days after and some had to be send to big hospitals in other cities. A cold shiver ran down Bastas spine, as he understood what had happened! Mortola must have thought that Victoria was pregnant! Basta made a few quick steps into the room and pulled Victoria on to her legs, he would carry her as soon as the old witch was out of sight, but if he did it now she would make the girls work even harder!  
Victoria flinched a little as she realized how close Basta was, was it true what Mortola had told her, was Basta only interested in her in that way? Carefully she turned her head towards the older woman and said "good night madam" after that Basta walked her slowly out onto the hallway and around the next corner before he sat her down onto the ground and started looking at her worriedly. "How bad has she hurt you?" He asked in a hushed voice, "it's okay" Victoria mumbled trying to cover up the bruise on her arm, but Basta was quicker, he rolled her sleeves up to her shoulders and carefully inspected her arms, neck and shoulders this way. Victoria tried to stand up or get away from him several times, his touch made her flinch his thoughts were racing and in his mind he was cursing Mortola more than ever! Shit, what had the old hag told the girl? If he ever found Mortola hurting his girl again, would take his knife and make sure the hag wouldn't life another second! Basta gripped her by her shoulders and looked into Tory's eyes "would you tell me what's going on with you? Why do you act like I'm trying to hurt you?" Tory avoided his eyes, but at least she looked at him now "do you want to marry me because you want to sleep with me?" Basta could feel his blood boiling, so that's what that witch tried to beat into the girls head, for a second he wanted to scream at her, ask her if she was stupid, but when he saw how scared and lost she looked on the ground before him, he couldn't. He carefully picked her up in his arms and started walking towards the girls dormitory. She was shivering in his arms, and he could still see the fear in her eyes. He sighed "Tory, if that is all I would want from you, do you think I would even ask for permission? Our wedding is the day after tomorrow and I deeply regret what happened tonight, I promise to you, that I have better reasons for marrying you, than just wanting to spend the night with you! I'm going to make sure you get tomorrow of as well, you'll need time to rest, and I need your dress size. Please don't trouble yourself with dark thoughts tonight!" He felt the small girl relax a little bit more, and as he felt her relax his tension seemed to leave him a bit.  
Tory smiled at him carefully, "what do you need my dress size for?" Basta looked down on her and gave her a shy smile "I'm sending one of the boy's to the city to get you a nice dress, and I thought you might like one that fits." This time she gave him a genuinely happy smile, and Basta could feel his heart beating faster as he saw the happiness in her eyes, he didn't want this moment to end, he wanted to keep on carrying her forever if he could only look at her beautiful smile.  
He gently pressed her body closer to his as he was carrying her, Tory had closed her eyes and was now listening to the beat of his heart, his steady breathing and his heavy steps on the stone floor.

Carefully Basta knocked on the door, Tory had fallen asleep in his arms and after he had realized it, he had made sure to walk the longest way back to the part of the house where Capricorn kept all the girls, turning around every time he heard someone on the hallway, making sure no one saw him carrying or even smiling fondly at his soon to be wife. He would make her love him, he had a whole year, how hard could it be to win her affection if she claimed she didn't hate him like he feared she did!  
But for now, no one else but her could know that he maybe, just maybe wasn't as heartless and cold as everyone said he was!

He heard light footsteps behind the door and carefully shook Tory a bit to wake her up. A soft voice cursed behind the door and he heard a key being turned several times. He had just sat down Tory and was trying to help her regain her balance through the haze of sleep and the pain she felt throughout her body when the door opened and a young redhead looked at him. Her face went pale as she saw Tory, barley able to stand next to him, but before the girl could say something, he told her in a low threatening voice "make sure she stays awake, until I find a doctor!" With that he turned on his heel and quickly walked away. Gina held the door open and helped Tory onto her bed, the other girls slowly waking up as the candles were lit. It took quite a while to get Tory to tell them what had happened, and none of the Girls had an explanation for why Tory had been gone for four hours, but all of them agreed on one thing, whatever Mortola was up to, it had probably only just begun.


	5. purest white and an Ink-heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tory just mumbled monotonous along the few words she was told to repeat "from now till forever, I promise to love you, cherish you and stay by your side, in sickness and in health through pain and through joy I promise to be faithful. From now till forever I promise to be yours."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, school and work kept me quite busy!  
> I hope you like it!

The doctor wasn't gone long, when Tory fell asleep, nothing was broken, and she had gotten away with bruises the size of small states. Basta had obviously either bribed or scared him pretty good, it wasn't one of the villages doctors, that one had been from another city. It was late night when the other girls finally went to sleep, they had spent hours sitting in the darkness, discussing over and over what Mortola had told Victoria, but no matter how much they tried to understand, they just couldn't figure out why Mortola had told Victoria about the wedding night. There was no way she was doing it out of motherly concern and it wasn't love for the girl as well! Confused the girls went to sleep, hoping they would figure it out the next day.

Tory's body was aching when she woke up, carefully and without moving around to much she looked around the room. The other girls weren't there, but there was a note on the small table in the middle of the room.

Carefully She tried to stand up, her mind was still somewhat hazed after what had happened last night. Again Tory's legs felt like pudding as she tried walking over to the table and when she finally reached it she had to sit down for a moment.  
After what felt like hours when the pain had finally subsided and Tory's mind was clearing she grabbed the note and started reading. The first part was Jenny's neat and pretty writing, telling her that she and the other girls would take over her duty's for the day, the other parts were quickly scribbled notes from each of the girls on how they thought one could get rid of the bruises and the pain. Tory's eyes started watering a little, her friends were the only family she had, knowing she would have to leave them soon she appreciated that they showed how much they really cared for her, but leaving a note for was dangerous for all of them! Capricorn had forbidden his henchmen and the girls he captured to learn how to read and write, who ever knew how to do it was killed or tortured! The only ones allowed to write were Capricorn's best killers, and he only taught them a few sentences, of which, all were threats! It was enough to scare the people that lived in the surrounding villages, but to little to enable them to learn about other things!  
Tory quickly grabbed the note and lit a candle, carefully she burned the paper until all that was left of it was a tiny bit of ash that she threw into the wind after opening a window. It was late, the sun had already risen pretty high and for a few moments she got lost in daydreams and the thought of the outside world, would she still be able to life a life outside this village?Tory never finished elementary school, would she be able to find work and support herself? Would She try to find her parents? Would she even want to find them? A knock on the door brought her back to reality and she quickly went to answer it. It was one of the younger boys looking curiously at her, and trying to peek inside the room before he tried to mimic the grim expression most of Capricorn's men wore and told Tory "Basta send me out to get you these, I brought three different ones, choose one so I can get rid of the other two!" With that he handed her a huge bag. She really wanted to thank him but just before she could he turned around and ran away blushing. Tory felt a smile creep over her face, just now he had acted like Basta when he was younger, back then there had been days when he dropped his cold demeanor and had actually been a nice guy, though just like the girls here were punished for 'dancing out of line' or 'miss behaving' , so were the boys, emotions other than hate and fury had been quite literally beaten out of them, and no matter how sweet the boy was at the beginning, the men they grew up to be were cold and vicious.  
Tory's mind wandered of to last night and she remembered Basta asking about her dress size. She couldn't even remember answering him, she would have never imagined that she cold feel so comfortable lying in his arms, his voice trying to comfort her after what Mortola had done to her... But As She pulled the first gown out of the bag She saw that the size seemed to be okay! The first dress was very plane, it was a simple white dress that went down to her ankles and had a small gold necklace pinned to it. The second dress was a short one, with a full Tull skirt and a lot of diamonds were sown onto the top, it seemed a little to flashy and to beautiful for Capricorn's dark and dull village. The third dress was absolutely stunning, it was a floor length dress with a fitted top part, the skirt however flared out around Tory's knees quite nicely. A few crystals were scattered all over the fitted part of the dress and it had a small sliver necklace pinned to it, with an onyx sitting right above the heart. Tory tried all three dresses on several times and ended up choosing the last one. The necklace that was pinned to it matched the ring Basta had given her, it was a dead giveaway that this was the one he preferred as well, and when she tried it on, it felt very comfortable and she actually felt pretty wearing it. About an hour later the boy reappeared and took the other two dresses to dispose of them. Tory really liked the dress, but the thought of marrying Basta still scared her! She had hoped that either Elody, Gina, or Jenny could tell her that Mortola had been lying to her, but neither one of them knew much, just like Mortola had said, she only ever told girls the most necessary things, nothing more. Elody however told her that she had heard some of the boys talking about sleeping with different girls, but none of the girls dared to risk their life's by asking the guys inappropriate questions. Tory had thought about asking the other girls in the surrounding rooms what they knew, but Jenny warned her not to. She said that most of the girls hadn't wanted it when it happened and that the girls had been forced, asking them about it would only remind them of the pain they had endured both physically and mentally. It was a good point, but it also had her worried again, would Bast force her to do something she didn't want to do?  
A faint knock on the door distracted her from her fears and she went to answer the door again. It was a young girl holding a tray with a bowl full of grey-brownish slime in it. With an apologetic look she said "sorry, but this is all I'm allowed to bring you!" Tory smiled at her and opened the door wider so she could come in and put the tray on the table. Her eyes flew to the dress splayed out on the bed and she looked at me like I was a princess in a fairy tale. "Are you getting married?" Tory slowly nodded her head, "to whom?" Her eyes where shining as she looked from the dress to Tory's left hand where she spotted the ring Tory had neglected to pull off and store with the rest of the jewelry Basta had given to her. "Basta" Tory said and tried to sound cheerful, but she saw the girl flinch, and her expression changed from listening to a fairy tale to watching a puppy being tortured. "I'm so sorry!" She glanced around the room and quickly hugged her before turning towards the door. "No one should be forced to spend the rest of their life with that monster!" For a split second Tory had the weird urge to defend him, to tell her that he wasn't a complete monster, but then she remembered that he was only treating her nice, for everyone else he was a monster with an ink-black heart.  
The rest of the day crept slowly by as Tory tried some of the slime and decided that one day without eating wouldn't hurt more than Mortola's walking-cane. After that she tried to treat a few of the biggest bruises, the doctor had left some sort of smelly ointment that seemed to work like magic.  
A few of them were already starting to fade, but most of them were turning a bright shade of purple. As she applied the ointment she tried to keep from imagining where Basta had found the doctor and what he had done to him to keep him from telling outsiders about this village.  
A shudder ran down her spine as she hoped that Basta hadn't killed the man.

Jenny was the first to return to the dorm, she had accidentally dropped a knife and had cut her hand again trying to catch it. She had tried some of the slime and labeled it "not edible!" After that she had insisted Tory put on the dress again and marveled at it before spontaneously bursting into tears. In that moment Elody and Gina came in and after a while they had finally understood the incoherent words coming out of Jenny's mouth! "Tomorrow you have to leave! Tonight's your last night here" after that everyone started to sob a bit and Tory quickly changed out of the dress, not wanting to get any tears on it.  
She still couldn't imagine being away from her friends, they had been her family for the most time of her life, and there was no guarantee That she would see them at work.  
Later that evening one of the older dormitory girls knocked on the door telling everyone that tomorrow would be a day of for everyone attending the wedding and that Tory should be ready at around midday. After that she wished everyone a good night and disappeared into the dark hallway again, muttering about how that poor girl was to young to have her life ending this way.  
The rest of the night the girls talked about their favorite memories together, and tried to scare the fear away that was slowly grabbing at everyone in the growing darkness by laughing quietly and trying to have fun together. When morning came Elody blew out the candles that had burned down into little stumps last night and they went to bed for a quick nap before the big day started.

The big Church was mostly back to its old glamour, someone had brought all the benches back into the room that was mostly used by the henchmen for eating together, and someone had even put the altar back where usually Capricorn's throne stood. Just like families would the girls had all sat down on one side of the room, and the guys had sat down on the other. Black met light blue and for a moment it seemed like everything was just the way it was supposed to be. Except it wasn't. No priest but Capricorn stood behind the altar dressed in a deep shade of red while Basta stood in front of the altar dressed in his black suit with his rose petal white shirt showing just a little bit. For a second his eyes met Tory's when the doors opened and he looked at her fondly like she was his biggest treasure, then his eyes narrowed and filled with hate. Tory didn't need to turn her head to know why, instead of a parent Mortola had stepped to her side and intertwined their arms. She quickly leaned over to Tory and whispered "the dress suits you quite nicely, the white underlines your innocence" after that she smiled at her, a smile so sweet that a cold shiver ran down her spine. Just in that moment the music started and Mortola started walking towards the altar with her.  
If this was a proper wedding in a perfect world, Tory thought about how her father would walk her to the altar and she would be deeply in love with the guy waiting for her. But this was Capricorn's village and since her parents had given me away freely and Mortola was the head of the maids, the woman she hated the most was walking her to the guy she just barely liked. Even if Tory learned to like Basta, would she ever be able to love him? Would a marriage like theirs even count outside Capricorn's village? Suddenly Mortola stopped and Tory realized she had zoned out so much she hadn't noticed she was standing next to Basta, but when Mortola took her hand and put it in his reality came crashing down into her. All of this felt so unreal to her! Her head felt like it was pushed under water, she could barely breath, and even though she heard everything Capricorn was saying with his cold narcissistic voice the words sounded far away and she didn't understood their meaning. Tory barely understood what he was saying when Basta repeated the vow after Capricorn.  
She was glad that no one expected anything from her, she had seen girls getting married in this village when they had been tied to the guy and had screamed for help, trying to break free and run for it. For a moment Tory thought about turning around and running, but the risk was to great, so she just mumbled monotonous along the few words she was told to repeat "from now till forever, I promise to love you, cherish you and stay by your side, in sickness and in health through pain and through joy I promise to be faithful. From now till forever I promise to be yours." Capricorn's voice sounded even more bored than usual when he said "I hereby pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride." Slowly Tory turned towards Basta, his face looked emotionless and bored like the expression most of Capricorn's killers wore, but his eyes couldn't hide his joy. Never had she Seen him Look as happy as he did when he slowly bend down to her and quickly pecked her on the lips. Some of the henchmen and maids started clapping, though most of the girls looked as traumatized as Tory felt and Basta led her out of the church towards the old grass field. A small buffet had been set up and A few of the church's old benches had been scattered in a halfhearted attempt at an open circle.  
As they walked out of the church soft music was playing around them and the path towards the field was covered in flower petals. Basta squeezed Tory's hand softly when the music turned into a slow waltz and pulled her onto the dance floor and into a tight embrace.  
Slowly they started dancing, in Tory's peripheral vision she could see her roommates, her family and only friends standing on the side, some of the other girls had left, to enjoy the spontaneous day of in their own way, and some of the boys had excused themselves to haunt the surrounding villages but most of the guests were still present, enjoying the buffet and that for this day the unspoken rule that the maids and henchmen weren't allowed to mingle was forgotten by mostly everyone. After the dance Tory walked over to her friends, and some of the guys had pulled Basta of to the side to congratulate him. When Tory had reached her friends they hugged her tightly and told her how gorgeous she looked, Tory smiled tiredly, they had helped her with her hair and the little makeup she possessed so they had known what she looked like all along, the compliment was probably to get her mind of of the fact that she wouldn't be leaving with them, that from this day she would have to live with Basta in one of the smaller houses down in the village were most of the henchman lived, and that tonight he would.... Tory's thoughts were interrupted when a hand was placed on her shoulder and she turned around to see Basta looking at her. She could tell that he used all his strength to keep his expression neutral and bored when his eyes gave away how much he enjoyed everything that happened. "I have a present for you" his voice was low and quiet as he held out his arm for her. Hesitantly Tory held onto him and let him lead her towards a table that had a relatively big box on it. Presents and gifts were quite unusual in Capricorns village since the maids weren't given any money for their work, and the henchmen would usually steal what they wanted and keep it for themselves. Tory gave him a curious smile and said "thank you" as she started to unwrap the box. After she had finally torn of the beige paper she opened the lid of the box. Inside was a suitcase. It looked plain, but when Basta said, "it makes things like moving or traveling easier!" Tory was finally able to smile. She still had a lifeline, even if she wouldn't fall for him, Basta would help her out of this dreaded place in just one year! Gina took the suitcase and disappeared for a few minutes, when she came back and handed it back to Tory it was heavier. Gina looked at her sadly and said "please don't thank me, those are your things, I only packed them for you!" Tory smiled at her and nodded, then she went back with her to Jenny and Elody and continued to hug every single one of them. From today onwards she would only see them on days off and if Mortola let them work together or the same shift, Tory could feel tears pooling In her eyes and wiped them away quickly. Bastas hand snaked around her waist and he took the suitcase out of her hand. "Are you ready to go?"  
Tory hadn't noticed the sky growing darker but the slight hint of gold and rose on the horizon was all that was left from today. Fires had been lit around the dance floor and by now most of the other guests had left.  
She slowly nodded, not moving her eyes from her family, her friends. For the past years they had been her everything and going with Basta now felt like being taken away from her family a second time, only this time it was worse, this time she had actually loved her family and they had love her. Basta was slowly guiding her away from the field, the fires and the music that still seemed to float through the air. They walked a few streets down to a small house when Basta pulled out another box, a small one this time and said he had another present for her. Tory opened the box and in the dim-light of the full moon she could see a small key inside the box. Basta took her hand as she held the key and together they unlocked the door. "Welcome home" he said, his voice soft and tender. Tory only nodded, she was to busy fighting back the tears to care that he was lighting candles all around her. Suddenly his fingers were under her chin and he lifted her face up, "what's wrong?" He asked, his face worried.  
What was wrong? She was afraid of what was coming next, She had just lost her family for the second time in her life, She was afraid of what was coming next, she was married to a man she didn't loved and she was so afraid of what was coming next, her thoughts were racing and she just didn't know how to answer the question. She slowly nodded her head, she just couldn't tell him what was wrong. He sighed and looked deep into her eyes as he said "Victoria, do you trust me?" Tory looked at Basta for what felt like an eternity until she nodded her head again.  
Basta sighed again and took her hand. "Come on, I'll show you the rest of the house." The house was pretty, the furniture was mostly kept in light wood with a few ornaments here and there. Next to the hallway was a small living room with a couch in front of a small fireplace, next to it was a small bathroom opposite from that was a dining room and next to it was a kitchen. At the end of the hallway was a bed room, it was bigger than most of the other rooms and had a big double bed inside it. Tory's breath hitches when she saw the bed and her fear started return. Behind her she heard Basta set down the suitcase and felt him hug her from behind "do you like it?" His voice was soft, his thumbs were drawing slow circles onto her hips through the fabric and he nuzzled into her neck. She just couldn't help tensing up and staring at the bed in fear.  
Basta felt the tension and let go of her. Slowly he walked her towards the bed and set Tory down on it. "You are scared that I'm going touch you!" She couldn't hold his gaze so Tory looked down at her hands as She nodded her head shyly. His hand carefully caressed her face and wiped away a stray tear that was running down her cheek. Basta gave a sad sigh and then he tilted Tory's face back up so that she had to look at him. "Don't worry, I won't touch you until you ask me to. I understand that the day has been a lot for you.I'll slept on the couch tonight, so please trust me. I'm not going to hurt you!" Tory couldn't say why but suddenly she burst into tears, Basta hugged her again and startet patting her back like one would when trying to console a small child. "It's okay, I promise I won't touch you until you are ready." When Tory was finally able to control herself again and could stop the tears he looked at her face once more, he held it in his hands and wiped the tears away. "It's okay" he whispered to her. After that he stood up, took a pillow and a blanket from the bed, wished her a good night and left the room.  
After he left Tory quickly locked the door and changed out of the wedding dress into a nightgown that lay on top of her "sleeping clothes" was this what it was like being married? She unlocked the door again, hoping that she wouldn't regret it, but after all he had done she wanted to try and trust Basta. She rolled herself into a tiny ball under the blanket. He wouldn't touch her until she was ready. He understood her fear without her even having to voice it. Maybe, just maybe She could learn to love him someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it,  
> Thank you for taking the time to read my story!  
> Best wishes  
> ~moonlightdance


	6. A dangerous Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basta and Tory finally get a little time alone and have some bonding moments, during which Basta discovers that his wife has a dangerous secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, I felt guilty for not uploading for so long, so here's a second chapter for today!  
> I still suck at summaries and I feel like this chapter is a little shorter than the last, I hope you still like it though!

She was still sleeping when Basta went into the bedroom, he could clearly see the traces the tears had left on her face. He hated to wake her up this early, but if he wanted to give her time he had to do it. He carefully placed a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her a bit whispering "Tory, wake up" the girl woke up with a start and for a moment seemed confused, as the haze slowly started to lift from her brain he held her shoulders tightly, he had thought this over quite a lot last night. "Tory, Mortola will probably call for you today and ask about last night, I need you to play along with me here, whatever she asks, just nod your head and pretend to be in shock! I want you to walk slowly today, like your legs hurt, and I need you to throw away the bed sheet! With that he took a small vile out of his pocket and poured some of its contents onto the bedsheet.   
It wasn't much but even in the semi darkness of the bedroom Tory gasped, it seemed to be blood. She quickly looked at Basta " Why are you doing this?" Basta looked at her with tender eyes "a few years ago, I did something that made you fear me, a few days ago I forced you into an engagement you never felt ready for, yesterday I married you, even if you don't love me... I may not look like it Tory, but raping a girl I like was never my kind of thing, but both of us are expected to fill in certain rolls in this world! For everyone else I am the big dangerous killer, I don't care for others and I never show any compassion! You on the other hand are a beautiful girl, people will expect us to do certain things, but I won't touch you until you are ready, I promised you that and I have no intention of breaking that promise! Should you ever tell anyone about this, I can't guarantee for your safety anymore. Please don't give me a reason to worry about you!" With that he took Tory's face into his hands and kissed her, not like he had done in the church yesterday, this was a real kiss. His lips felt warm and a bit rough against Tory's , and her head was buzzing with thoughts, why was he so nice to her, could it be that he actually cared for her? What was happening here? Slowly he moved away from her face giving her a tender smile. He stood up saying "I'll be back at sundown, don't do anything that could have me worried!" He had almost left the room when he turned around again, looked at her and said "I love you" Tory almost wanted to reply, she was used to saying it to her friends. The words were already on the tip of her tongue "I love you too" but before she could reply he held his hand up and shook his head. "No, don't say it! If you say it now the words won't mean anything to you! I want you to say it only when you really mean it!" With that he was gone and Tory was alone in the bedroom. She could still feel his hands all over her face, and his words ringing in her head. Had she been entirely wrong about him? Could it be that Capricorn's big dangerous guard dog turned out to be a small chihuahua? She turned towards the bed and pulled the sheet from it. Tory crumpled it up a bit and went outside. There was a big garbage can outside the house, but in Capricorn's village there was no one coming to collect the garbage. Usually a few of the younger boys were sent out once a week to burn the garbage and use the ash to darken their faces and hands before running out to scare the surrounding villages away, to keep anyone from trying to come here. Tory threw the sheet into the metal dustbin and walked back into the house. In the faint light of the rising sun, it really looked nice, she couldn't imagine Basta living here all by himself, but then Tory remembered that one of the girls had once told her, that most of Capricorns henchmen that didn't live in Capricorn's manor lived in small shags, not more than a bed and a bathroom. Most of them chose a better furnished house once they got married to a girl but according to one of the girls not all did. And that she had to bring up her child in a small shag!  
Tory looked around, she had subconsciously walked back into the bedroom and pulled the curtains aside. Judging from the position of the sun on the early morning sky se still had more than enough time to get ready and walk up to the manor. She went over to her small suitcase and opened it again, starting to pull several dresses out of it. There weren't many things inside it, her light blue working dresses, a black dress, the box of jewelry Basta had given to hear over the years and a few hygiene products, but underneath that she found a small package, wrapped in brown paper. Tory saw it for the first time and as she unwrapped it a small storybook emerged. On the inner side of the brown paper was a small note written. 

"Our gift to you, we wanted it to be a birthday present, but you need it more now! Whenever you feel lonely just read it." Underneath were Jenny's, Elody's, and Gina's signatures. For a moment Tory pressed the book and the note close to herself. Then she slid them Back into the suitcase and started walking around the room, trying to find a place to hide it.   
It wasn't long until she had discovered that one of the floorboards was loose.   
With a little effort she could lift it up, and after pushing some of the loose earth out of the way, she cold easily store her book and the note in there. After having made sure that everything looked normal, she got dressed and opened the curtains she had closed to hide the book again. The sun was just rising, Basta had left very early. Secretly Tory wondered if he would always be gone so early, but then she remembered that she had to go to work as well. Quickly she threw on one of her light blue dresses and put the other clothes into the empty side of the wardrobe that stood in the far left corner of the room. After that she took one of the bracelets Basta had given her throughout the years and pulled the chain through the hole on the end of the key. After putting on the bracelet she quickly went outside and hurried of to Capricorn's manor. 

Victoria had just finished pulling the tiny weeds from the flowerbed in from of the manor when she heard footsteps behind her. As she stood up and turned around with the bucket full of weeds Mortola was standing in front of her.   
"Hello my little bird, how was your first night away from home?" Her voice would be dripping with honey if she had said the words any sweeter. Tory remembered Bastas warning in the morning and tried to keep both her face and her voice as emotionless as possible as she replied "Okay madam." Mortola gave her a smile that showed she believed her. Questioningly she looked at Tory "so, did you bleed?" Tory was glad that Basta was good at creating fake evidence as she made sure to lower her gaze and look ashamed as she replied slowly nodded her head. Mortola started laughing and told her to continue working as she slowly went toward the gate that surrounded the manor and its gardens. As soon as Mortola was gone Tory exhaled, it felt like she had been holding her breath again. Mortola was probably going to check if she had said the truth. What would happen to her if she found out about her lie? Tory quickly shook the thought away, and continued caring for the gardens, composting the weeds and during lunch time she went to the kitchen to assist the other girls there. In the late afternoon Mortola came back to her to inform her that Basta had returned early to the village and that if he returned early like today she was allowed to leave as well to spend time with him. Tory made sure to seem more shocked and scared than happy about the news and gave a small curtsy to the older woman before she leaft the gardens and went back as slow as she could towards the small house. When Victoria returned it was obvious that Mortola had came to check for evidence, the bedsheet was hanging out of the bin, the bloody spot on top. Before she went inside Victoria made sure to push the sheet back into the trash. Inside she found Basta sitting in the small living room, lighting a fire in the fireplace. Slowly she went over to him, the warmth of the fire feeling nice after spending most of the day outside. The seasons were changing and it was growing cold in Capricorn's village. As he heard her enter Basta smiled at her, grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the fire. She knew he hated fire. One time he had burned both his arms, setting fire to an old farmers house. Since then he instructed others on how to properly burn down other people's property. No, Tory shook her head a little, this wasn't how she wanted to think of him! If it wasn't for his kindness towards her Mortola would have probably beaten her again today, and he was even fighting his own fear of fire so they could be warm!  
"So she let you go early after I found her snooping in the trash when I came back?" Tory nodded her head. "How was your day?" It felt weird asking Basta about his day and to be fairly honest, Tory didn't want to know whom he had killed, threatened or tortured today. She didn't want to know if he had broken in somewhere or if he stole something... But asking about his day seemed like the right thing to do. "Boring, we drove over four hours to find out that the hint we got turned out to be fake. How was yours?" Tory thought for a moment before replying, she was sure Basta would be bored if she went into to much detail so all she said was "you were right about Mortola she came when I was picking out weeds in the garden." Basta looked like he wanted to ask something but before he had the chance his stomach growled at him angrier than the dogs he was training. Tory laughed, she had skipped her break and was hungry as well. "How about I go and fix us some dinner? I haven't eaten either!" Basta nodded his head looking sheepishly at her. It felt weird and unreal getting to know his softer side. Tory stood up from the couch she had been sitting on and walked towards the kitchen. Basta stood in the doorway and watched her prepare a meal. When Tory reached up for a pot, her sleeve rolled down a bit and Basta could see a bracelet hanging around tory's arm. Rather annoyed she tried to open it with one hand and when she made an extremely frustrated sound Basta went over and helped her. Tory still had the urge to flinch away every time Basta touched her, but she tried her best to suppress it. After taking it of of her arm Basta looked closer at her bracelet and smiled at her. Putting the bracelet down onto a kitchen counter he took down the pot Tory had been reaching for and gave it to her. "Do you mind if I help you?" Tory quickly shook her head and after a few minutes of talking through the dinner plans, they were getting started on cooking together. After they finished eating Basta got a bottle of wine from the kitchen and offered her a glass. Suspiciously Tory eyed the wine before admitting "I have never tried wine, or anything alcoholic for that matter!" Basta smiled at her and replied "then let's make it a game, you can ask me a question, I can either answer it or finish the glass, after that I can ask you something! The game can continue until one of us gets to drunk." Tory wasn't to fond of the idea of getting drunk, but this was a nice way to find out things about him, so she agreed and Basta told her to ask her first question. "Do you remember anything about your family?" Basta looked straight into her eyes as he lifted the glass up to his lips and drank the wine. After refilling his glass, he looked at Tory for a long moment before asking "do you ever want children?" Tory was a little bit shocked about his question. Generally she wanted children, but after remembering her little talk with Mortola she flinched. Not wanting to answer the question Tory slowly lifted the glass to her lips and tried a little of the wine. The taste felt strange on her tongue and the alcohol burned a little in her throat. Tory suppressed a cough and Basta chuckled lightly. Not wanting the questions to turn to personally to quickly she asked "what is your favorite color?" 

Having finished four bottles of wine Basta could tell that Tory was more than a bit tipsy, but he had one more question before ending the game. "Can you tell me a secret about yourself?" Tory giggled like a little girl at him and repeated what he said with an extra deep voice. Then her face turned serious and she leaned closer over the table towards him. "I know how to read and write and I have a book I hid in the bedroom!" Tory broke into a laugh, completely ignoring how shocked Basta looked at her. He had expected anything but this! Was she just saying this because she was drunk? Only one way to find out. Basta stood up and went around the table. "Game over, I won, you are drunk!" Tory giggled at him again and didn't even resist as he pulled he of her chair and threw her over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes as he slowly walked towards the bedroom. Carefully placing Tory onto the bed he looked at her face in the faint candlelight. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were gleaming as she leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear like it was an even bigger secret than the one she had just told him "I am drunk!" After that she started laughing again before she slowly fell asleep.   
Basta looked around the room, if he had to hide a book, where would he do it? Careful not to make any noise he stood up and walked towards the wardrobe as he discovered that one of the floor panels was loose. Carefully he pulled it up. Underneath it in a small shallow hole was a small package, wrapped in brown paper. 

Basta placed the book back into the paper and put everything back into the hole before carefully putting the floor panel back in place. So she had told him the truth. Basta smiled fondly at his sleeping wife, this made her even more interesting. Careful not to wake her up he lay down next to her. The night was cold and she was shivering, he couldn't care about how much she would protest in the morning but for now he wanted to keep her warm. Carefully he snaked an arm around her and pulled her closer to him. To his surprise she turned around in her sleep and placed a small hand onto his chest, smiling into his warmth.   
This was the first time in his life when Basta fell asleep with a smile on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I really do appreciate it!   
> Feel free to leave a comment if there's something on your mind regarding the story and I'll get back to you ASAP!   
> Love   
> ~moonlightdance


	7. Read to me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sun stood already pretty high when Tory woke up. She had woken up to many times during the night and still felt tired. "Good morning sleepyhead!" Basta was lying next to her on the bed, and for a second Tory blushed, remembering how close she had been to him last night, when she turned to face him however, all color left her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little earlier than I planed but since I'll be busy for most of tomorrow I thought I could give you this one now...

Warmth. Tory remembered that she was freezing when she fell asleep, the wine had really gone to her head, but now there was warmth! Carefully she snuggled closer to it.   
There was a slight smell of mint. She hesitantly opened an eye to see where it was coming from and also what was warming her. When She opened her eyes it took a moment for her to recognize the person in front of her.   
The wine had clouded her mind and he was smiling so seldomly that she almost didn't recognize him. One part of her wanted to flinch away from Basta, he was so close to her that she could hear him breathe, the other part of her wanted to rest her head on his chest and hold his warm hand while he was sleeping. He looked so calm and happy, careful not to wake him up Tory tried snuggling closer to him but the bed gave a loud creaking sound and Basta woke up.   
Tory cursed a little bit in her mind when his eyes opened and he looked at her confused. "Everything alright?" She didn't want to wake him up, so she quickly nodded her head and replied "Yes. Sorry to wake you, it's just so cold.." Before she could finish the sentence Basta rolled closer to her and put his arm around her waist. Tory's head was lying on his arm and her face was so close to his chest now that she heard his heartbeat, like a silent lullaby his scent and his heartbeat send her back to sleep. She still heard him ask "better?" But was to tired now to say anything. Tory hummed a little as a reply before everything went dark again and she drifted of into sleep.

She looked so peaceful, lying sound asleep in his arms, but Basta had heard a sound on the front door.  
Whoever it was, better not woke him up for nothing. For a moment he thought about just hoping that whoever stood in front of the door would just freeze to death or leave, but then he heard it again. Regretful he looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms. She had turned in her sleep and was now pressing her pack into his chest. Carefully Basta pulled his arms away from her and made sure to cover her with a second blanket before he went to the front door. As he unlocked it he pulled out his knife and as soon as he opened it he grabbed the boy standing in front of it, pressing his knife to the boys throat. "You must have a death wish, waking me up in the middle of the night, getting me away from my wife!" He had growled the words in a low threatening sound making sure that the boy heard him but no one else could.  
The boys face went whiter than the still shining moon before he croaked out "we found the snitch, Mortola demands you deal with him right now, really if it was on me I had never disturbed you this late, but Capricorn is out of town to check in with the other hideouts, so that leaves her in charge!" The boy looked so scared Basta had to gather all his strength to not laugh at him! He would never kill one of the younger boys! At least not in front of his house where Victoria could see him, or find it out! He slowly let go of the boy and started playing a little with his knife. "If Mortola wants me to take care of him now she'd better offer me something good to make up for the short notice and the early morning hours!"   
"How about the weekend of for you and your girl? Since she's probably already missing you in bed!" Even though she was whispering the sarcasm in her voice was evident. Mortola must have snuck up from behind the boy when his attention was on his knife. Basta narrowed his eyes, the offer was good!  
"What do you want me to do?" There probably was a catch to it, other than being woken up in the middle of the night! "Not much" Mortola gave an evil smile "Capricorn instructed me that should we catch him before he returns you should draw a nice picture on his face and put up his head in the dining hall as a warning for everyone who plans to help our enemies! Basta gave an internal sigh, he looked at Mortola, at the boy and back to Mortola. "Give me five minutes." After that he closed the door before anyone could reply and went back into the bedroom to get a warm jacket, it was really cold outside. He had just pulled the jacket from its hanger as Tory raised her sleepy head. "Where are you going?" Basta went over to her and sat down next to her on the bed. She looked cute being all sleepy, still rubbing dust out of her eyes. "Just around the house, there's something the boys want me to take a look at!" He kissed her cheek and gently pushed her back into the bed. "Go back to sleep and I'll be back before you know it!" Tory nodded her head sleepily "don't be long!" A small smile crept over Bastas face before he pulled the blankets back over Tory's shoulders and whispered "don't worry, I won't." After that he left the house to follow the boy to what the guys called the "birdcages" where Mortola was already waiting. 

The sun stood already pretty high when Tory woke up. She had woken up to many times during the night and still felt tired. "Good morning sleepyhead!" Basta was lying next to her on the bed, and for a second Tory blushed, remembering how close she had been to him last night, when she turned to face him however, all color left her face. Basta was sitting propped up against a pillow and slowly flipping through the book her friends had given to her. Seeing that she was facing him now Basta put the book down and told her. "Last night you told me about your little secret! At first I couldn't believe it, but when I found the book, I was quite intrigued! So you know how to read and write!" Tory's eyes were fixed on the book, had he seen the note as well? Had he told anyone? Was everything alright with her friends? "What are you going to do now?" Basta looked at Tory for a moment, pondering on what he would do now. Technically speaking he had to tell Mortola, but the old hag would probably tell him to kill her and whoever had gotten her the book.   
Reading was after all a crime in Capricorns village, no one was supposed to know how to read!  
But Basta had no intention on doing that! Instead he pulled Tory on his chest with a quick movement and gave the book to her. "Read it to me! Judging from the pictures it seems to be some sort of fairy tale." Tory's eyes grew wider with every word he said. Should she really do this? Her gaze went out of the window and her heart stopped for a moment! "Oh no!" Tory cried out and started struggling in Bastas arms " I completely over slept! Mortola's will kill me!" But Basta held on to her even tighter. "Don't worry about that! I got the weekend of for you and me for dealing with that thing last night! Do you seriously think I would let you oversleep? So calm down, you've got all day to spend here with me, reading that book to me!" Tory calmed down a bit. Basta seemed to really mean it. He had a strong yet gentle grip on her, and he looked interested at the book. "When have I told you that I could read?" Tory's mind was still hazy and she could only guess that she had been drunk when it happened. Bastas reply only confirmed what she already feared. If she tried to remember what had happened she could only remember him telling her that she was drunk and that he won. Afterwards he had carried her to the bed. The next thing she remembered was accidentally waking him up because she froze.  
Now it was to late to back out anyway and since Basta showed no sign of letting her go either, she just tried to get comfortable resting her head on his chest as she opened the cover of the book and started reading.


	8. Loneliness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, but I won't be able to upload tomorrow, that's why I'm posting this chapter a little earlier…
> 
> WARNING: cliffhanger

"So, how are you doing? We've been worried!" Jenny looked at Tory curiously. "You know, I think I'm doing fine. I'm slowly getting used to living with him and I think we are getting along surprisingly well!" Jenny gave her a friendly smile "Elody mentioned that you looked normal when you guys were on cleaning duty last week, but I had to see you myself! You know you've been living with him for over three months now and I was wondering…" Jenny quickly glanced down at Tory's stomach. She hadn't told the girls about Bastas promise, no one else knew that he wouldn't touch her until shs wanted it and she kind of wanted to leave it that way, but was that right? Her friends were like her family and they had been so awfully worried! She sighed and avoided Jenny's eyes as she said "give me time to talk about this!" She quickly nodded her head and Tory could feel her hand on her shoulder before they continued working on the fields in front of them.  
Time really had flown by! It still felt like yesterday when She thought back to her wedding and the night Basta had found out she could read. Now it felt like She was finally starting to get comfortable around him. During the week they rarely saw each other, but most of the evenings they were spending together, cooking, or sitting together in front of the fire, trying to get the cold out of their bodies and minds. The season had changed and Capricorn's village had grown extremely cold. Since the living room was the only one with a fireplace they would sometimes sleep in there, but most of the times they just had to cuddle up under what felt like a ton of blankets and share the warmth they had keep between their body's. Tory had almost overcome her shyness, by now snuggling up to him felt like one of the most natural things to do after a long day out on the cold fields, taking care of herbs, vegetables and the few flowers that could survive in the cold. Today however would be different! Basta had been sent away with a few other boys for a few days. Today would be the first time the house would only inhabit her. Would She be lonely without him? The thought felt a little bit weird! A few weeks ago Tory would have laughed at the person telling her that she would get used to Basta so much that she would start missing him when he was gone! His hands around her felt like they would protect her from whatever life was throwing at her, like not even Mortola, that old crow could ever harm her. His dark and scary aura had scared of the last boys that we're giving her strange looks in the Dining hall, and it even felt like Mortola was generally treating her more respectful now, still not humane, but it seemed like she thought twice about hitting Tory lately! Would that change for the time he was gone?

Tory sighed, she had lit the fire in the living room, but the house just felt empty without him and shestill felt cold!  
Basta had taught Tory pretty early how to light a fire, so she wouldn't hurt herself trying it. Usually he'd wrap his arms around her at least once a day, his strong, warm, protecting arms... He'd gotten pretty good at asking questions about her past and avoiding certain topics like Tory's parents or the day Capricorn's men had shown up. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them, what would She do with the rest of the night? Usually they would stay up together, talking, playing games or Tory just reading for him. She missed his scent and heartbeat, without them the bedroom seemed to silent, to empty for her to fall asleep!  
Tory had spent the last two nights sleeping on the couch in front of the fireplace and avoided the bedroom as much as possible! Usually on days of they'd stay in bed and She'd read to him, but She had already read the book several times this evening and was growing sick of it. After work She had went with Elody back to their old dorm room and spent a few hours sitting there with the girls talking about everything that wasn't related to her missing Basta! At first she didn't want to believe it, but now she had to face the truth! she did miss him! The day he had left he had hugged her and gave her a long sweet kiss. He had promised that he would be quick, and Basta always held his promises! When Tory felt like the walls were coming closer and the silence was to much to bear, She put on a thick coat and left the house. She wasn't quite sure where she was walking until she stood in front of her old dormitory. Well, if she was here already she might as well could try and knock! Maybe they still had a bed for her for tonight! Tory had just knocked the door when she realized how sad and lonely she must look, standing in front of their door in the middle of the night! She heard the key being turned and Elody's face came poking out of the door, accompanied by a small candle to light the darkness in the hallway. When she saw Tory's face she took her hand and quickly pulled her into the room where she sat down the candle and hugged   
her for a while, while Tory was sobbing silently. "You guys were right, I miss   
him!" Slowly Gina and Jenny stirred in their beds. How was this happening? How could she grow so attached to him that she actually missed him?  
Gina and Elody were still petting her back and shoulders when Jenny returned from the kitchen. She had insisted on bringing Tory a hot tea after they had found out why she was there.   
Tory just wanted to ask them if they would mind her staying with them for the night when there was an urgent knock on the door.  
Elody stood up and gave her a worried glance as she walked towards the door and opened it! In front of the door stood one of the older girls, her face was pale and she was shivering as she quickly said "they're back, we need support, don't know if they'll survive." She had sounded like she had run a long way, all Tory could think about was that they had returned! She jumped up with the other girls and they ran outside, accompanied by the other eight girls living in the hallway, and together they ran to the entrance hall. The doors were wide open and a few guys were laying on the ground. As Tory glanced around the room her heart dropped to the floor. Basta had gone with six other guys, She only counted four inside. Most of them had cuts all over their faces, arms and hands, some of the less lucky ones had been shot in several places. Where was Basta?   
By now her eyes were frantically scanning the room for him. She quickly ran over to a girl that sat close to the entrance doors and had just finished cleaning a deep cut on a guy's face. "Where are the other three?" Tory hadn't intended to scream at her, but she couldn't hold back the panic that was seeping from her body into her voice and slowly seems to drive her crazy! Her body started shaking and she felt her legs grow weaker every second she had to wait for the girls reply! "There's another one in the car outside, but I think he's gone to a better place!"  
Tory stumbled outside, her legs weren't obeying her anymore! Her feet were getting caught on the uneven ground outside. She almost fell, but managed to catch herself on the door of the big van that was standing outside.  
All of a sudden her courage left her, what If he was dead? What would She do then? She couldn't take it anymore! Shakily she walked around the car, holding onto it when her legs felt like they wouldn't support her, not even for another step.  
Both the drivers seat and the front passengers seat were empty. Her hands shook horribly as she was grabbing for the door on the backside of the car. In just a moment she would know it, but was this really what she wanted? She could still walk home and pretend he'd come back any time! Tory grabbed what was left of her courage and opened the door.. 

Tory turned around and emptied her entire stomach onto the driveway.


	9. Lost without you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tory slowly walked back home, tears staining her cheeks. She unlocked the door and opened it slowly.  
> For a moment she stood in the hallway, paralyzed, she felt like She'd throw up again and ran into the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I deeply apologize to everyone who had to deal with last chapters cliffhanger!

Tory slowly walked back home, tears staining her cheeks. She could still taste the gastric acid in her mouth when she unlocked the door and slowly opened it.  
For a moment she stood in the hallway, paralyzed! She felt like She'd throw up again and ran into the bathroom. Hanging above the toilet she felt fresh tears leaving her eyes, burning a path into her face.  
Tory felt someone taking her hair out of her face and a careful caressing hand on her back.  
When She turned her head she screamed. 

Bastas white sleeves were drenched in blood and he looked at her worriedly. She quickly flung her arms around his neck and started crying tears of joy. When She had realized that the guy in the car hadn't been him she had been terrified that they had left him for dead somewhere out there, but there he was, alive! He carefully caressed her back as She was crying into his shirt while he whispered sweet nothings into her ear.  
"I thought you were dead!" Basta looked at her tenderly "I couldn't leave you alone here now could I?" She laughed and hugged him one more time before She remembered his bloody sleeves and asked him what had happened. After telling her how they had been ambushed and that they had barley managed to get out alive Tory slowly opened the buttons on his shirt and carefully peeled the sleeve on his injured arms up. The cuts were long and deep and there were a few wounds that looked like they came from grazing bullets, but over the years living here all of the girls had learned to take care of injuries like those. Tory carefully washed the wounds and bandaged them before checking him for other injuries. He had several scars all over his torso and arms and the burn marks looked as painful as they must have been the moment he had gotten them but aside from being covered in blood, dirt and grime he looked okay!  
Tory looked around in the small bathroom and quickly decided that Basta needed a bath. She walked towards the small bathtub and motioned for him to follow her.

As she started the water he looked at her questioningly "what are you doing?" Tory gave him a once over and shyly replied "you look like you could really use a bath" Basta raised an eyebrow at that comment and with a slightly mischievous look in his eyes replied "so do you!" She looked at him sheepishly before turning the water of "I'll get in after you!" Basta quickly grabbed her hands as she was about to walk past him and pulled her dress over her head "there's no way in hell i'm getting in there on my own! If I get unconscious I'll drown!" He quickly lifted her up and sat her down in the bathtub, completely ignoring her struggling, squeals and complaints.  
Tory's felt like her face was burning! Was this really happening just now? She knew he had probably seen other girls naked before her, but being naked in front of him herself? She quickly scootched as close to the brim of the bathtub as she could, trying to hide as much as possible. It wasn't long until she heard the water splash around a little and she heard his soft voice close behind her "don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you!" Tory's heart was beating faster and she could feel the tension in her shoulders, was she really worried that he would hurt her? She felt his warm hands move her hair carefully over her shoulders before he started massaging some of the tension out of them. No, embarrassed was more how she felt right now, shy and nervous, but she was not afraid of him, not anymore! She was afraid that he'd leave, she was afraid he'd die but she couldn't explain to herself why she acted so scared all of a sudden. 

Slowly and Carefully she felt him pulling her away from the brim of the bathtub as he pulled her against his chest and rested his hands on her stomach, drawing small circles with his fingers into her skin. "Is this so bad?" Tory slowly closed her eyes and relaxed more into his touch.  
Just being here with him felt so right! She turned her head slightly to the side and listened to the sound off his heartbeat and steady breathing. He was alright, Basta was alive! 

The sun was slowly rising and the horizon was stained golden as the new day was dawning.  
"Don't leave me again!" Basta sighed "I can't promise that I'll never have to go again, and I can't promise that I'll return, but I promise that I'll do everything I can to return to you." Tory carefully placed her hand over his and held it as she almost incoherently whispers his name. "Basta?" He hummed a reply.  
"I felt lost without you…" his arms around her tightened Tory blushed and hid her face against his wet chest "Basta?" Her voice cracked a little. He turned his head toward her and hummed again "I love you." she whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I am forgiven now, I originally planned to make this chapter a lot darker, but I just felt like I couldn't do that now!


	10. She is mine!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are we really still doing this? I think it's pretty clear that I suck at summaries by now!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> The moment she had declared her Love, his pain had faded into the back of his mind, nothing mattered but her!  
> He sighed again relaxing into the cushions on the small couch, watching the small fire flicker while he heard Tory in the next room preparing some food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: chapter may seem fluffier than it actually is!
> 
> I really want to write more fluff, but that wouldn't move along the story… fluffier chapters will (hopefully) come in the future again!

The water around them splashed a bit as Basta turned her around in his arms and held her close in a tight embrace so that she was facing him now. As she looked shyly into his eyes Basta replied "I love you too!" Then he slowly bend his head down to kiss Tory.

When the water was starting to cool down, Tory insisted on helping Basta out of the tub, she was still acting shy, and he had to close his eyes as she got out and wrapped herself in a towel before she slowly helped him stand up and balanced him as he clambered out of the tub. 

Once they had finally dried of, Tory made Basta lie down on the couch in front of the fireplace and lit the small fire again before running of to the kitchen to fix a small breakfast for them. 

Basta sighed, the last hours felt almost surreal to him, one moment people were shooting at him, the next he was driving the van in absolute agony watching the boys he'd taken along suffer, hearing them moan in pain and taking shaking last breaths while his white shirt started to stain red with the blood seeping from his wounds, the next moment he was sitting in the bathtub with his wife, holding her close.  
The moment she had declared her Love, his pain had faded into the back of his mind, nothing mattered but her!  
He sighed again relaxing into the cushions on the small couch, watching the small fire flicker while he heard Tory in the next room preparing some food.

Basta was woken up because he heard quiet sobbing from the front door, he looked around a little confused, before remembering that he was back at home, something seemed of though, it took him just a few seconds to recognize the sobbing and he ran up to the front door.  
Tory was crouching on the ground, her small frame shaking violently.  
Basta didn't even have to guess why, Mortola stood in the front door raising her walking cane to beat Tory again. 

It took less then two strides for Basta to stand in front of Tory and block her from Mortola, before she could even realize what happened he took the walking cane from her and threw it across the street that led up to the house.  
Mortola seemed stunned, so he took that to his advantage, gripping her wrist tightly and asked her calmly "what are you doing to my wife?" His voice was calm and controlled but everyone knew that for Basta, a calm and controlled voice was worse than him shouting or screaming in rage.

Mortola's voice shivered with fear for a second before she composed herself and responded "She has duties in the manor, during a time like this she has to help the wounded! She neglected those duties, so it's only fair that I teach her not to disobey me!"  
Basta actually hissed at her this time when he said "Tory belongs to me, she is my wife! My wounds are the only ones she has to treat! Now get out of my sight before I loose my control!" 

After Mortola had finally gone, scared by Basta's threat, he turned around, and his anger left him immediately, carefully he bend down to look at Tory.  
There was a big bruise forming over her left eye and she seemed to be in to much pain to stand up, Basta carefully cradled her in his arms, supporting her neck on one arm, carrying her legs over the other as she still sobbed hot tears that slowly stained his shirt. 

Carefully he carried her to the bedroom and placed her on the bed, then he went and got a cool washcloth to cool the bruise on her face.  
"Basta" Tory's voice was so quiet, he first thought he had imagined her saying his name "Basta it hurts!"  
Basta looked at her carefully, he could see a few bruises starting to form on her arms, but she was pressing them against her ribs protectively as well.  
"Where, where does it hurt?" Basta felt like he was going insane, this day was just to much for him!  
"Everywhere, it burns!" Tory's eyes filled with tears, he couldn't take it anymore! "Tory, I am so sorry!" Tears clouded his vision "what can I do to help?" His voice cracked, seeing her in so much pain was unbearable to him, how long had Mortola tortured the girl before he had woken up?  
Tory closed her small hand around Bastas, removing it carefully from the bedsheets he was gripping tightly. "There's an ointment in the bathroom, it helps with pain, I think I left it on the countertop" Basta nodded and went to get it.

When he returned, the tears in Tory's eyes had stopped falling and there was a slight feverish-blush to her cheeks. Basta set the ointment on the bedside table and carefully caressed the right side of Tory's face. "Anything else I can do?" Tory blushed a little more and her voice shook a little when she asked "help me out of my dress?" 

As it turned out, helping Tory out of her dress was easier said than done, everywhere he touched her she was aching and after what felt like an eternity Basta had simply promised to get Tory a new dress and cut the one she was wearing open.  
Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw when they finally removed the last bits of the dress. Angry red stripes crisscrossed all over her body covering almost every single inch of her skin. Some of the stripes looked like they were bleeding and Tory flinched when Basta helped her apply the ointment.

Mortola would pay for this!


	11. Late night visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He looked over to the bathtub, it felt like an eternity ago that he had been in there with Tory, when she had confessed her love for him! What would he do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if I'll be able to upload chapter 12 tomorrow, it's really difficult for me to write at the moment, I still hope I can!

The night was restless for Basta, Tory kept whimpering and tears were streaming down her face every now and then.  
At first he had tried moving away from her, so the heat of his body wouldn't burn in her wounds, but Tory had reached out for him in her sleep and mumbled his name. 

After that Basta had decided to stay awake, and would every now and then carefully apply more of the ointment onto her wounds, or renew the cool washcloth on her forehead all the while carefully caressing her arms, taking extra care to avoid touching the wounds. Basta was just returning from the bathroom where he had changed the washcloth again when he heard footsteps in front of the door. 

Basta carefully grabbed a knife from the small side table he had put next to the door, where Tory would always put her house key and insisted on having a glass with a few fresh flowers that she would pick on her way home he always had a few knifes on the table… just in case.  
When he opened the door though, he almost dropped the knife, the face looking at him was pale, bored and emotionless.  
"Basta"  
Basta gave a courteous nod and tried to sound equally as bored as he replied.  
"Capricorn, little late for a visit, what brings you here?"  
"My" Capricorn dragged the word out longer than necessary "mother told me a very concerning story! She told me she came by for a visit this morning to see your wife and ask her about any symptoms of a pregnancy, a precaution you understand" he gave Basta a questioning look and Basta nodded once, already guessing the direction this conversation would go. "Then my poor mother told me that just as she was talking to Tory you suddenly showed up, and treated her unacceptably, taking her cane, shoving her and even threatening my poor mother! I just came to drop by and remind you to whom you owe your loyalty. I don't care what happened here, Tory may be your wife for now, but I gave her to you, I can take her back just as easily!" Basta clenched his fist, and gripped the knife harder with the other, no one would ever take Tory away from him, carefully he reminded himself, Capricorn was not a god, he was only human, he could bleed, he could die!  
"On the note of your wife, I have been wondering" Capricorn paused and glanced past Basta as if trying to see Tory in the darkness behind him "why on earth is she not pregnant yet? I'm sure I don't have to remind you that this marriage is only valid after you have done… certain things!" Here Capricorn took a quick step towards him and gripped his collar "I wanted Tory for myself, she was supposed to be mine! When she seemed to become to much of a distraction I gave her to you, thinking you'd deal with her, thinking once she'd have a child she'd be less desirable for me, but here we are three and a half months into the marriage and your wife's not even struggling with morning sickness?" Capricorn turned around, already moving to leave when he turned his head again and gave Basta an amused smile "Or are you to less of a man to give her a family?" 

It took all of his strength to not throw the knife and kill Capricorn on the spot, but Basta carefully composed himself as he closed and locked the door quickly locked it. He carefully placed the knife back onto the side table and silently went back to the bathroom, where he splashed some cold water in his face.  
He looked over to the bathtub, it felt like an eternity ago that he had been in there with Tory, when she had confessed her love for him! What would he do now? Capricorns unspoken threat was still ringing in his ears, he slowly sank to the floor, his heart pounding heavily in his ears, as for the first time in his life tears of despair ran down Bastas face.

 

A small hand was softly placed on Bastas shoulder and carefully slid down across his chest. "Tory!" He hadn't heard her entering the room, but there was no mistake, as she nuzzled into the crook of his neck and carefully hugged him from behind. "I woke up because you weren't there, and then I heard a voice coming from the front door. It took some time for me to stand up, and when I could finally manage to walk, I saw you walking into the bathroom looking like you saw a ghost. I was worried…" Basta carefully turned his head and looked at her face "…and did you… hear" Bastas voice cracked and he couldn't finish the question as he saw Tory nodding.  
She slowly, carefully sat down on her legs behind him, and hugged him tighter.  
Basta turned around in her embrace and hugged her carefully "words can't describe how sorry I am, i love you so much, that I tried to protect you from everyone including me, and now I fucked it all up!"  
Tory carefully placed a soft kiss on Bastas forehead as he sobbed and kept running a hand up and down his back, she placed the other hand on Bastas cheek and softly made him look at her. "You. Are more. Of. A. Man. Than he. Could. Ever. Dream. To be!" Tory had accentuated her words by kissing first his face and then his lips softly then she looked into his eyes again, cradling his face in both of her hands now "You didn't fuck up anything! Basta I love you! I. Love. You! Do you understand that?"  
Basta nodded his head, she carefully wiped away his tears and kissed his cheeks again, he looked at her adoringly when Tory suddenly couldn't suppress a yawn.  
Basta smiled at her and stood up, carefully lifting her into his arms "let's get you to bed, you have to rest! And who knows what tomorrow will bring…" Basta felt Tory's small hand on his face again and looked down into her tired face as he carried her. "As long as you are by my side, I don't care what tomorrow brings! I could face the world with you by my side!" Basta felt Tory slowly falling asleep as he carefully tucked her into the bed and wrapped his arms around her, sleep slowly grabbing at him as well, as Tory's last words swam through his mind.  
Face the world with you.  
Face the world……the world.  
The Outside World.  
Suddenly Basta's eyes flew open and a plan was slowly starting to form in his mind! It was dangerous, it could cost both of them their lives… but with the way things were going, so could staying here.…


	12. I'll see you once the sun went down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basta came into the kitchen looking grumpy and tired and when he saw Tory's work-clothes he looked a little scared. "I don't want you to go back there, it's to dangerous!" Tory smiled at him carefully "if I don't go up there they'll come down here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if there are any mistakes or typos in here, I'm a little behind on my schedule, so I couldn't proofread it twice like I usually do, I still hope your able to enjoy this just as much as the others!  
> Since I'm a little behind I can't promise that there will be a new chapter every day, but I'll do my very best!  
> ~ moonlightdance

Tory looked at herself in the small mirror, most of the wounds had faded, others were almost healed completely. It had been three days now that Basta had refused to let her go up to the manor, and Tory was scared of what would happen if she went back now.  
Nevertheless she dressed in her blue working dress, and quickly fixed a breakfast for herself and Basta as she heard him stirring in the bedroom.

Basta came into the kitchen looking grumpy and tired and when he saw Tory's work-clothes he looked a little scared. "I don't want you to go back there, it's to dangerous!" Tory smiled at him carefully "if I don't go up there they'll come down here!" Basta looked at her skeptically, he knew there was no point in trying to keep her at home, especially now that her wound were almost healed completely. 

Basta sighed and motioned for Tory to wait.  
When he returned, a dog was following him, he looked less vicious than the beasts he usually trained but Tory still shivered when she saw the dog.  
Basta gave her a small knife that Tory should hide in her shoe and use if one of the guys tried to hurt her, then he told her "your friend Jenny helped me train the dog, he will follow you around silently all day, he is friendly enough, however he will attack anyone who tries to harm you!"  
Tory looked from the dog over to the knife in her hand "Basta I don't think I can take a dog w-" Basta raised his hand again to stop her "either you take both with you, or I'm not letting you go!"  
Tory sighed deeply, she knew he meant it, but how could she walk around the manor with a dog following her around? Hiding the knife alone would be difficult enough!  
Tory went over to Basta and gave him a quick kiss "okay!"

 

Basta looked skeptically after Tory who went side by side with the dog up to the manor.  
He had told himself several times he had done everything he could to protect her as he went around the village, finding the youngest of the boys, it was that time of the year again where the youngest were send out to scare the surrounding villages into paying enormous sums of money to be left alone by Capricorns henchmen. Whichever of the boys brought back the most money or the gifts with the highest value was allowed to keep a little something from whatever he brought back wich always spurred the boys on to do their absolute worst to the villagers.

Basta would always accompany them, making sure none of them were followed back. Capricorn never cared much if the boys got lost or were killed during this time, but Basta had always at least tried to make sure he came back with the same number of boys he had left with.

The day seemed to drag on endlessly as Basta watched from the car.  
Bored he rummaged through the pages of an old book that was kept by the "supervisors" on those expeditions.  
Suddenly his eyes caught something and Basta looked at a woman that had crossed the street just a few meters ahead of where he had parked the car. He silently slid out of the car and around the next corner where he watched her walk along "why are you sneaking around like this Basta?" A young voice had almost startled him when he whipped around to see a soot black face, black clothes and soot black hands.  
"It's none of your business what your superiors do, now either get back to work or sit your ass down in the car. I'll be back soon enough!" The young boy jumped up and rounded the next corner, and Basta carefully slid into the shadows following the woman home.

When it seemed like she had reached her destination Basta had confirmed his speculation. The house she was standing in front of, looking in her bag for her key had a faided red rooster painted next to the front door.  
Basta had done this often enough himself to know what it meant.  
Whenever a young girl or a young boy was taken from a family, one of the accompanying older guys would spray paint the rooster on the house, these families were usually spared from pranks for the most part, but every now and then especially cruel young boys would taunt them with images of their lost children and demand especially high sums of money from them.  
Basta dashed out from the shadows and quickly grabbed the woman's arms twisting them behind her back and covering her mouth "scream for help, and I'll kill you on the spot!" The woman looked mortified at him and quickly shook her head.  
"I don't want much from you, and I'm going to let you go now, I'f you don't want to die you better don't try anything."  
She quickly nodded again and Basta let her go, making sure he blocked her from any prying eyes and could easily catch her should she try and run. As soon as he let her go however she screamed at him!  
"What do you want from me, are you blind or just stupid? You already took my daughter away, are you here to rob me of everything else that I have?"  
So he had been right, the woman and Tory had looked so alike, for a second he had thought it had been her, the same moment he saw her he had flicked through a page in the book that had Tory's name on it, and an address close by.  
Since almost all of the henchmen were completely illiterate most of the writing was from the parents that gave away the children, being told if they wrote the child's name and their address down they would be left alone in the future. Basta had actually learned to read from Tory, they had read the book she had so many times that after a while she had simply started teaching him, and he was quite thankful now that he could decipher the small symbols she called letters. 

His eyes narrowed and he gave a low growl "I'm here to talk about your daughter!" The woman sank together in front of him "why?" Her voice shivering as she held onto her purse tightly.  
"That's exactly what I wanted to ask you! It's not that it matters much to me now, but why would the richest family in the city rather give away her daughter than paying some money?"  
The woman slowly stood up, squaring her shoulders and looking at him "well, i don't suppose it matters much if I tell you, the truth the girl is probably dead anyways…" she took a deep breath to collect herself and clear her thoughts. "you are right, I am fortunate enough to be the wife of a very rich business man, but Tory tore the family apart! My husband has always wanted an heir for his business, he wanted a son and after I gave him a daughter he started coming home later… smelling of sweet perfum that wasn't mine... I knew that it would be shameful to just put Tory up for adoption, admitting that I didn't want my own daughter would have been far to shameful for a lady of my class, then you guys came along with your boss, stealing and kidnaping, and all of a sudden and I saw a solution to my problem, my husband only wanted one child in the house so I made sure that he kept drinking all through the evening and the night, it was just a matter of time utill one of you would knock on the door and when I heard your friends knocking I send Tory to open it. It was easy convincing them to take her instead of money, having my drunk husband backing me up from behind me thinking it was a game. He was to drunk to remember anything in the morning and since then I played the role of the poor mother that lost her daughter! I guilt tripped my husband into having another child and the heaven blessed me with a boy! Actually I guess I should thank you, you and your friends got rid of that troublesome girl for me, and ever since then my life has been perfect." 

Basta stared at the woman in utter shock and disbelief, he had always thought that the world he had come from was cruel, but ever since that woman in front of him had started talking he had started hating her more and more.  
How could this hateful evil hag share his Tory's face? How could she be so heartless and evil when Tory was so good? Basta grabbed into the woman's purse and pushed her house key into her hand "get out of my sight!"  
Tory had always avoided questions about her parents, and whenever he asked about her family, she referred to the girls she had shared a dormitory with, now he understood why. He couldn't remember his own parents or if he even had any, but even that seemed better than having to call a woman like that mother!  
Bastas thoughts constantly went back to Tory as he made his way quickly back through the shadows toward the car where he had to wait for the boys to finish of this village, after this one was only one more before he could go back home to his wife.  
He silently promise himself that as soon as he was home he would pull her into a tight hug, but he would never tell her about the heartlessness of her own mother. He was sure she didn't knew the whole story, she had been to young back then, and something inside him was happy that she didn't!

 

Tory looked up from the patch of flowers where she had just finished pulling out the weeds. Cocorlell was smiling at her in a way that made her blood curdle. "I'll be there in a minute!" He turned around and left her. Tory carefully stood up and petted the dogs head, like Basta said he had stayed with her all day, following her around like a shadow. 

The other girls she worked with didn't seemed to mind, some even called him cute, but Mortola had stared at her furiously all day. When Cocorlell had approached her, the dog had emerged from the shadows and planted himself in front of her, looking bigger and more dangerously than before.  
Cocorlell had immediately stopped in his tracked as he recognized the dog. 

Everyone in Capricorn's village knew that Basta trained dog into obedient beasts, and most of Capricorns henchmen would refuse to work with the dogs without Basta.  
Cocorlell had learned the hard way that Bastas dogs could only be called back by Basta. 

He had delivered the message from a save distance and was all to glad to leave again, still feeling the beasts eyes on him as he returned inside the manor.

Tory was glad she had the dog, he was trained especially well.  
When she stood up, so did he, following her without a command, waiting for her when she went to the bathroom and when she worked on something he would either lie down at her feet or in the closest shadow.  
She secretly called him shadow by now, he was completely black and so silent that every now and then she forgot he was there at all.  
When Cocorlell had approached her he had darted out of the shadows so quickly, Tory hadn't realized it at first.

She thought about dropping Shadow of in her old dorm room but decided against it, she knew that she kept him around to be safer and Basta wouldn't like the thought of her meeting Mortola on her own. 

The sky already started changing into the deep blue and gold of twilight when Basta steered the car finally past the barrier that blocked outsiders from Capricorns village.  
He felt tired and exhausted, the last village had turned out somewhat rebellious and he had to step in to make sure none of the boys where harmed.  
After the Money and jewels were finally carried to the vaults Basta slipped into the shadows making his way back home, however the feeling that something was wrong, crept over him the closer he got to the small house.  
When he saw the small creature lying in front of his house his heart skipped a few beats in shock and he sprinted towards it.  
Basta recognized the dog before he had reached him, blood was slowly seeping from multiple stab wounds and for a moment Bastas heart stood still, and only one thought occupied his mind.  
Tory!  
He carefully stepped over the dog and was just about to unlock the front door when he heard voices from inside.  
Bastas fury blazed up like a wildfire and he stormed inside the small house. Shouting her name "Tory!"

Tory stood in the kitchen looking helpless and small, tears streaming down her face silently while Capricorn sat at the dining table, looking expectantly in his direction.  
Basta crossed the room in a few quick steps, standing between Capricorn and Tory, his eyes carefully scanning the perimeter of the room, seeing if Capricorn had come alone.  
"What's the meaning of this Capricorn?" Basta had snarled at him, his hand already twitching towards the knife in his pocket.  
"Basta, how nice to see you, there was a beast following your wife around all day, I decided that I should take care of it before something would happen to her! I know how much you like her to be well protected, so I walked her home myself!" Capricorn had sneered him, slowly standing up while he was talking so that in the end he was quite literally looking down at Basta as he spoke, yet his voice had changed, it wasn't the usual bored narcissistic drawl, now it held a challenge and Capricorns eyes were gleaming dangerously.

While Capricorns attention was completely on Basta tory ducked behind the kitchen counter and pulled a small vial from the shelf next to her, it was dangerous but she still had to try, the tension in the air around Basta kept building and Tory knew that it wasn't long now until he would snap. She carefully took Bastas knife out of his pocket, when his eyes flickered down at her she put a finger over her lips.  
Then she opened the vial and poured its content over the blade of the knife, the liquid evaporated within seconds and she carefully slipped his knife back into his pocket, hiding the vial in a pocket of her chemise.  
Capricorn took a step toward Basta "it would be better for you and your wife if no new monsters would accompany her, you wouldn't want her to get hurt now, do you?" Capricorn laughed a cold cheerless laugh.  
It seemed like Bastas hands were working on their own accord, pulling the knife from his pocket, grabbing Capricorns collar and pulling him down "are you threatening my wife in front of me?" He hissed the words at Capricorn.  
"I'll see you once the sun went down, in front of the manor, and once I'm through with you, I'll show your wife what a pathetic weakling you were!" Capricorn pushed Basta away from himself, carefully avoiding the knife that Basta still held much to close to his face. Then he turned around and stormed outside.

Bastas knife fell to the floor with a sound that seemed to loud and to surreal for the moment. Tory scrambled up from behind the counter and hugged Basta tightly "what did he mean by that?" Tory looked into Bastas eyes. Basta carefully wrapped his arms around her.  
"It means that he wants to kill me…"


	13. Separate ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Basta, where's my future wife? Where's Tory?" Capricorns voice reverberated loudly over the empty place.  
> Basta clenched his fists, feeling the calming weight of the knife in his hand, tonight there was no need to hold back for him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for not uploading for so long, I'm still struggling with writers block among other things, but I finally managed to finish chapter 13! I can't promise that I'll be back on schedule anytime soon, but I promise that I keep working and I'll upload as soon as I finish the chapters!!
> 
> Love  
> Moonlightdance

Wind whipped past Tory's face as she ran through the woods, the sky growing infinitesimally darker as the scenery flew past her, the last moments still playing through her head and tears streaming down her face, blurring her vision making it hard to see, her feet got caught in the roots of an old big tree and Tory fell, stopping for the first time since Basta had kissed her and told her "only wait until the sun rises, not longer! If I haven't come to get you keep walking, don't turn around, don't talk to strangers and don't go with anyone but me!"  
Tory cleaned the earth from her hands and wiped the tears from her eyes, she knew she couldn't afford to wait too long in one spot until she got to the hideout, but all of it seemed to surreal! How she had coated all of Bastas knifes with the poison, how he had quickly told her about the cave, close to an old shack in the Forrest, whoever had lived there before Capricorn came had probably used it to store firewood, but after Capricorn came, everyone had fled from the forest that surrounded the village. Using the house as a hideout was to obvious in Bastas opinion and he apologized frantically for making Tory wait in a dirty open cave, but since he was sure that none of Capricorns henchmen or the boys knew about the cave it seemed perfect.  
Tory carefully pulled her foot free from the tree and winced at the sudden pain that shot through it, "great!" She thought bitterly "of all the times to sprain my ankle it had to be now!" She carefully stood up and limped in the direction Basta had pointed her.  
"Basta" she thought and she felt a stabbing pain in her heart. Would he be alright? Would he stand a chance against Capricorn? Was he still alive?  
Tory shuddered and looked around, Basta had warned her not to light a fire, the light and the smoke were sure giveaways to where she was!  
At least she wouldn't have to worry about being chased by his dogs!

Just when Tory thought it would get to dark to keep looking for the old shack she saw it, up on a small hill, it stood looking miserable and a bit creepy.  
Tory went to its left side and sure enough the ground dipped into what looked like a path where once upon a time a river must have flown. The drop into the dried out riverbed was quite steep, and Tory carefully clambered down,making sure to keep most of the weight away from her hurt ankle.  
There it was, hidden completely from everyone's view was a small cave about five meters deep, sitting surrounded by clayey soil, held up by stones and a few thin roots from even thinner trees, grass and moss. 

Tory unzipped the black jacket Basta had insisted on her wearing and rolled down the dress she had hidden underneath it.  
Basta had thought it saver for Tory if Capricorn's henchmen should they look for her wouldn't be able to identify her as a girl, so she had Dressed in one of the village boys pants that she had snuck from the laundry room, and had rolled up her dress, hiding it in the thick jacked Basta had given her.  
She was quite glad for the extra fabric now, the nights were still fairly cold up in the north, and with nothing else to warm her Tory snuggled into the jacket and tried to distract her thought from the one her brain always kept pushing into the front of her mind, what would she do, if Basta had not come by dawn? She knew that he expected her to keep running without him, and when she thought back to a time that seemed so long ago, it had been her original plan, but now that the world lay ahead of her, open, dark and lonely, she started to doubt that she would find a way to survive out here without Basta by her side. 

 

Bastas eyes flickered nervously from left to right as he made his way up to the manor, his lips still burning with the last kiss he had given Tory, his hands still feeling her face as he tried to remember every little detail of her face.  
He had mapped her face almost every night, when she slept next to him, trying to remember every dimple, and the way she scrunched her eyebrows together when she slept.  
The way her voice sounded in his memory when he thought back to how she would every now and then whisper or mumble his name in her sleep ran a cold shudder down his spine. Was she alright? Had she found the cave? Had she remembered not to light a fire? Had Capricorns henchmen already figured out that she was no longer in the village?  
Basta turned his head to look back at the house. He had taken extra care to make it seem like she was still hiding in it, boarding up the windows, locking the front door. Would he ever be able to return to it? Would Tory be by his side when and if he ever did?  
Walking through the front yard he looked around carefully, the forecourt was lit with a few torches, the flickering light illuminated the place just barley and the dancing shadows of the fire chased another shiver down his spine. He carefully took his favorite knife out of his pocket. It did not look or feel different, and if he wouldn't have known he would have never guessed that Tory had done something to it.  
But he had seen how she had poured a liquid from a small vial over it, and told him he should be extra careful not to hurt himself with it.  
A dark silhouette emerged from the manor, followed closely by a small group of people.  
"Basta, where's my future wife? Where's Tory?" Capricorns voice reverberated loudly over the empty place.  
Basta clenched his fists, feeling the calming weight of the knife in his hand, tonight there was no need to hold back for him!  
"I left my" Basta but a lot of emphasis on the last word "wife at home, I did not want her to see how I deal with you!"  
Capricorns boastful laugh still echoed over the vast space, as both of them ever so slowly walked towards each other.  
"Quite sure of yourself aren't you? You used to be my most loyal servant, I even considered you to be something like a friend, are you sure you want to throw all of that out for a girl?"  
Basta grinned "I've never been so sure of anything ever before, and you see, I'll win either way, should you kill me tonight you won't secure your power over those you rule, you'll only proof that your not fit to rule, and someone else will come and kill you in my place! After all, your no king and especially no god, you're just a mere human like all of us are, and I can't wait to see your reaction when I make you bleed!" 

 

Capricorn turned away from Basta and wiped his long dagger on a handkerchief, marveling at the red of the blood as it stained the white, looking up he addressed to guards standing close to him "get the girl, I want her to see how I kill him!" The goons grinned stupidly and hurried of.  
Basta knew they would be back soon, he knew he had to hurry!  
Most of the other henchmen and girls had already left which left Basta alone with Capricorn and Mortola.  
He knew that should Capricorn's henchmen feel like Basta would actually kill their boss, they would interfere, but he also knew that all of them hated seeing one of their own die.  
He had drawn out the fight as long as possible, making it boring for the overtired onlookers, and at the same time it made Capricorns attacks weaker. The weight of the dagger was new to his arm and he had never had to fight anyone, he had always had someone else to do the dirty work for him.  
He had allowed Capricorn a few hits, in places he knew would heal well, and still look dire.  
Now that Capricorn, feeling sure of his victory, had turned his back towards him he fished in his pockets for his smallest knife, and threw it with all his strength.  
Capricorn gave a horrified wail when the blade pierced his skin.  
The small knife was lodged deeply in Capricorns upper left thigh. Capricorn turned around angrily, his eyes shooting fire in his direction but before he could even come closer Basta turned around and ran.


	14. Darkness and daybreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: even though it's been quite some time, my summaries still suck!   
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> The darkness of the night was slowly fading, and Basta kept throwing glances at the sky, wishing to stop the light streaks that broke through the clouds, announcing that it was close to morning, as he dashed through the Forrest.   
> His only thought was with her.  
> Tory!   
> He had to reach her before daybreak!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for not uploading in so long, I'm still struggling with a few personal problems, writers block and the urge to make this story a lot darker, but I think I have finally decided on how I want this to end, so maybe the next chapters will come more easily to me! Thank you if you are still here, and enjoy!

The moon stood high, shining in a crescent down, just barley illuminating the place as Capricorn roared and screamed completely infuriated, Basta had just turned around and ran into the shadows, blending in and disappearing completely from view when his henchmen returned… without Victoria.  
Capricorn ripped the knife out of his leg and threw it at the first of the guys he saw, killing him instantly.  
He growled at the other "where's the girl?"  
Shocked by the death of his comrade the other henchmen stood abruptly, ducking in fear of other flying knifes,  
"She wasn't there, we searched the whole house, heck the whole village! She is gone!" Capricorns eyes blazed with anger, and he let out another blood curdling frustrated cry, the henchmen looked scared to death as he pulled a book from a bag and held it up defensively "we found this in the bedroom!"  
Capricorns eyes focused on the book as he lunged forward and grabbed it, a devilish smile spreading across his ghostly features "burn the house down!" The henchmen nodded once and turned to leave when Capricorn shouted after him "the first one of you guys to catch them both, will get his own village!" The man nodded once more and ran of into the darkness, Capricorn turned towards the closest torch, holding the book over it as if he hadn't yet decided if he wanted to drop it or not, when he heard a muffled scream behind him.

Dropping the book next to the torch he whirled around to see his mother collapsing on the ground, Basta standing behind her, pulling a knife from her back, and looking like the cat that ate the canary!  
Capricorn roared with fury, and hatred flashed behind his eyes. "You killed my mother!" Capricorn came charging towards Basta when suddenly the light from the torches disappeared, and the court was immediately swallowed by darkness. 

Basta moved carefully, the darkness had always been his realm, until he had met Tory, all his life had been darkness, he moved with it, in it, disappearing from view completely in the smallest of shadows.  
A dark courtyard at night was like a playground for him.  
The fires had him on edge, had him watch his every move, now he was free to move as he pleased. He heard light footsteps running over the courtyard and while Capricorn whipped around in darkness unable to identify the source of the sound, his eyes had gotten used to the darkness enough for him to make out Tory's friends, two of them ran on the spot, serving as a distraction from the sound the third one made as she ran across the courtyard, picked up the book and ran back to them, taking them with her as they rounded a corner and disappeared Into the night.  
Suddenly Basta knew who had killed the light.  
Tory's friends, her family as she had called them had wanted to help him.

After the lighter footsteps had disappeared Capricorn had looked around disoriented, not remembering where Basta had stood.  
Basta used the moment to climb up the wall of the manor, making sure to stay hidden from the little light that poured out from a few Windows.  
"You look like a cornered animal!" His statement had been just provocative and taunting enough, Basta saw Capricorn whipping around, stabbing his dagger into the night.  
Basta chuckled darkly. "Give up Capricorn, I won! Even if I disappeared now, your death would be imminent!"  
Capricorn's mirthless laugh sounded across the court, " that's quite the big word for you Basta, no doubt Tory taught you quite a few more, but I won't die! You barely even scratched me!"  
"You know, your right, Tory did teach me new words, she changed a lot about me and my life, but it seems I had a bit of an influence on her as well. How else would you say the cute and innocent girl we both wanted would have ever gotten the idea to poison all of my knifes!" 

Basta saw how Capricorns face fell, his eyes widened in shock, and his hand flew to his thigh were the dagger had left a deep stabbing wound. "Your lying!"  
Basta slowly climbed down the manor while talking, his voice still carried by the wind sounded as if it came from everywhere at once.  
"I wish I was, I send her off before she even had the time to tell me the name or the antidote for the poison, and with your mother gone, Tory is the only one who knows how to heal you. If you hurt me, you will never find her!" 

Capricorn was visibly shaking with fury now but contained it as he bit out "And what do you want me to do know?"  
Basta carefully walked closer "drop the dagger, and all other weapons you have, and call your men of! I don't think Tory would be in a particularly helpful mood after being chased or if she comes back and her home is burned down!"  
For the first time in his life Basta saw fear flickering across Capricorns face. He slowly dropped the knife he had clutched tightly in his hand, went to the manor and called out a young girl.  
He gave her instructions to call of the men from the search and the house and told her to hurry.  
Basta watched in disbelief as he saw the girl hurrying towards the village. Then Capricorn came closer to him again. "And now?" His voice was an angry hiss but his eyes betrayed him, the terror and fear behind it was bliss for Basta.

Basta looked at Capricorn, before smiling. "Now I'm going to find my wife and see if she feels like healing you."  
Capricorn grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him furiously. "What do you mean feels like it? That bitch has to" but Basta cut him off. "After you made her work almost all of winter out in the herb garden?  
My dear old friend," Bastas voice sounded as bored and sarcastic as Capricorn used to sound when he sentenced someone to death "I wouldn't be to sure of that! Of course you can try to heal yourself, but with your knowledge of plants you would probably just poison yourself even worse, and the way your mother treated all the girls I doubt any of them would seriously help!"  
Capricorns grip on Basta loosened and he looked like someone had poured cold water over him. 

As Basta turned to leave he saw Capricorn collapse onto the cold stones, whimpering and shivering and for the first time in his life he saw him crying! 

 

The darkness of the night was slowly fading, and Basta kept throwing glances at the sky, wishing to stop the light streaks that broke through the clouds, announcing that it was close to morning, he knew he had spend too much time taunting Capricorn, he had to make sure that he wouldn't trust anyone else to help him before he left, but he knew he had overdone it. It had been to much fun seeing the monster that had tormented his Tory for so long crumble in front of him.  
Basta dashed through the Forrest, his plans had changed on the courtyard. For a few moments he had held Capricorns life in his hands, and he still somewhat did.  
Should he tell Tory about his new plans? Would she be willing to go back? Would she heal the man or kill him? He refused to think that he may not arrive on time, refused to think about a future without Tory. Should she be gone when he arrived, no one would be able to find her anymore, there were to many places to go.  
Basta had roughly explained to Tory how the life outside the village worked, had explained to her that from the cave she could easily reach four other villages, he had explained to her modern means of transportation, thinking only of a save way for her to flee should she be followed, but now panic was seeping through him like the poison through Capricorns body.  
With every step he felt it spread and he grew more anxious and scared, where should he look if she was gone? Would he find her again? He cursed himself for not taking along a dog that could have tracked her, he knew that once she stepped into a car or a bus the track would be lost, and tears collected in his eyes.

 

Tory woke with a start, the earth around her was cold, and her clothes felt damp. She was shivering and quietly nuzzled into the jacket, sighing sadly when it didn't smell like Basta anymore, his scent replaced by earth, pine, morning dew and the scent of wet fabric.  
She knew she had to start walking again, but she didn't want to, her heart ached with the possibility of having seen Basta for the last time.  
She carefully lifted her gaze to the sky and saw the light streak across it in broad stripes.  
Birds around her slowly woke and started chirping.  
Tory slowly rose and left the cave, her foot still stung and for a moment so did her heart as a horrible thought passed her. What if Basta was dead? He had always held his promises to her! Hadn't he promised that he would come and get her?  
Tory's legs gave out and she broke down crying, whimpering quietly, trying to suppress the sobs, knowing she would be to loud.  
When Tory heard footsteps fall heavily, her tears stopped immediately. Was it Basta?  
She heard leaves crunching and small twigs breaking. Someone was coming closer quickly.  
Suddenly Tory felt scared, what if it wasn't Basta? He told her to leave as soon as the sun rose, and it had been up for a while now!  
Tory scrambled to her feet, she rolled her dress up again and hid it underneath the jacket like she had done the night before when she had fled Capricorns village, then she gritted her teeth and ran from the cave, ignoring the pain in her foot and the protest of her heart at the thought of distancing herself even further from Basta.

 

The shack came quickly into view and Basta could have cried tears of joy, he quickly rounded it and hurried towards the cave, his heart dropping as he saw it.  
Tory wasn't there.  
He went inside and looked around, his throat felt tightly shut, and he choked on her name.  
Tory.  
She was gone.


	15. Of Henchmen and Maids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Girls looked at each other knowing that what they had planned was dangerous and could cost all of them their lives, but they just had to try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little different from the ones before since I decided to fill you in on what's happening inside Capricorns village, I know that Basta's and Tory's part is kind of short, but it will get better! Pinky promise!

"Is everyone there?" Elody carefully looked into the church, when Jenny came out.   
"A few girls are still missing but I think they're on their way. Let's just start and hope for the best!"  
The Girls looked at each other knowing that what they had planned was dangerous and could cost all of them their lives, but they just had to try.  
It was loud inside, most of the henchmen and maids talking loudly.   
Elody and Jenny quickly found Gina and together the three of them walked up to Capricorns throne.   
It didn't take long for everyone to quiet down, the village was small and rumors spread quickly.   
Elody carefully looked around, a few of the maids looked scared, some nervous and some expectantly, the henchmen looked generally curious.   
There was no easy way to break the news, so she just braced herself for the worst as she carefully announced "last night Basta killed Mortola."   
The few conversations that had been going on died down completely and a hushed silence spread around the room.   
All eyes were on them as Jenny stepped in front of Elody and continued.   
"Capricorn tried to kill Basta!"   
The atmosphere in the room changed immediately, it was as if she had dropped a bomb. There was an uproar in voices, and protests could be heard. Cocorlell started screaming the loudest that Basta had been a power hungry bastard, and that he had deserved it, while a few of the younger boys started to protect Basta furiously, since he had been the one who had looked out for them ever since they arrived and even when they had gone out to scare the surrounding villages.   
Most of the maids huddled together scared, and sobbed.  
Everyone knew that Basta was Capricorns most loyal servant and his oldest friend, the thought that scared most of them was that if Capricorn wouldn't back down from killing his best friend, who could guarantee for anyone's safety?   
It took longer this time to get everyone's attention back, but when they had the chaos under control again Gina spoke up.  
"Basta managed to inflict some kind of damage on Capricorn, we don't know how bad it is though, as some of you may know by now, Capricorn has Locked himself in his room, he will see no one, his orders were to continue as usual, but should Basta and Victoria be seen they are to be brought to him immediately."   
Gina took a deep breath before continuing, this was the difficult part!   
"With Capricorn locked up, and Mortola gone, there's a decision for everyone to make." She carefully looked around the room before continuing, "you all have to decide where your loyalty lies! Is it with the man who would kill you in a heartbeat, or is it with the man you grew up with? Basta left the village before morning, we think he went to get the previously disappeared Victoria back. We don't know what they have planned, but this will end one way or another! And we should be prepared!"   
One of the henchmen jumped up and started screaming at them "bullshit! Your just trying to help your petty friend! Capricorn wouldn't just kill us over nothing!" He seemed furious as he charged in front trying to reach the girls, he was stopped abruptly though when a burly man grabbed him from behind and roared "I was on guard duty last night with my brother, we were told to get the girl, when we came back without her, even before we could explain Capricorn threw a knife into my brothers throat and killed him!" He slowly looked up at the three frightened girls standing in front of the large crowd.  
"I believe you. Capricorn wouldn't think twice about killing any of us. Basta has been my friend for years."   
He took another breath before he continued "should he come back, I can't say that I'll support him, but I also won't stop him from anything Capricorns words and promises have lost their meaning!"  
With that there was another uproar and while most of the henchmen started throwing punches at each other the girls carefully and in small groups left the church and collected outside.   
When Elody, Jenny and Gina had finally found a way outside, away from the fight that was still ongoing inside most of the girls looked at them hopefully.   
"What do we do now?" It had been a simple question from a girl not older than thirteen but it weight heavily on their shoulders.  
What would they do now? The girls had always stuck together, they decided everything together and now it seemed more then ever, did they need each other!   
All eyes were on them now, when one of the older girls from the group spoke up.  
"No one can keep us here now, right? The goons are fighting, Capricorn is locked up and Mortola is dead." She looked around the group of girls before speaking again "I think we should separate into groups and bring the new arrived girls back home!   
Most of us have been to long here, we are not used to the outside world, so I think those of us should stay, but as long as the younger ones of us still remember where they truly belong, we should escort them home! Now is the perfect moment, no one will ask for them, Mortola can't harm is and should Capricorn rise back to his full strength hi least concern will be a few girls gone missing!" Murmurs of agreement spread around the group and soon the girls started separating into small groups of two to three young girls accompanied by 2 older girls and they headed for the entrance of the village.

The few girls that stayed back gathered in the manors kitchen as they sat around the table to come up with a plan. Should Capricorn die things would surely change, but if he didn't, all of them surely would!

Tory was panting, her heart beating wildly, as she pressed a hand over her mouth and nose so that she wouldn't be heard.  
Whoever had come had been much faster than her, and so she had ducked behind a large tree, hiding completely from view as she waited for whoever it was to leave again. 

Basta went inside the cave again and slumped down against the wall, shaken by violent shivers as he sobbed. What would he do now? Would he go back without her? He couldn't all his strengths came from Tory, and without her he couldn't even find the will to get up again.

 

When Tory heard someone quietly sobbing she thought she imagined it at first, then she carefully peeped out behind the tree. The person inside the cave was a man slumped together, crying and shaking, his face hidden in his hands.   
He seemed familiar though, as soon as she saw him Tory's heart leaped. It was him! It had to be! Tory wanted to scream his name, but choked on it, Basta! He was alive!


	16. Still alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I suppose you fought it out?" Elody looked at the burly man in front of her, "We have." He gave her a crooked smile bearing a few bloody teeth "I suppose you came to a conclusion?"  
> "We did" she smiled back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the long absence, i'm still fighting through my writing block, but I wanted this chapter to turn out just right, thanks for your patience!

Tory scrambled away from the tree, and ran towards Basta as quickly as she could with her sprained ankle. 

Basta was blinded by his tears, he heard nothing as he cried, when suddenly something heavy hit him and he crashed to the ground with it.  
It took him about ten seconds to figure out that a young girl had crashed into him when he heard his name and felt his heart skip a beat.  
Tory. 

"I thought you were dead!" He heard her shaking voice and felt her hot tears on his face, when he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. "I thought you were gone! I thought I could never find you again!"  
He felt Tory's small hands on his face as she pulled him even closer and looked into her eyes. Relief flooded him when she kissed him pouring all of her love for him into the kiss, and he was sure that this wasn't a dream. 

"I can't! No! Basta, this is madness!" Tory's voice quivered and she looked at him with fearful eyes her face paler than usual.  
"I'm not making you choose any of this" his voice was calm and he hugged her tighter "the world lies ahead of us, we can go wherever we want, we don't have to go back!"  
He carefully caressed her cheek, tilting her face so he could see her eyes "I can show you deserts where there's sand as far as you can see and a burning sun shining above, we can sail the seven seas, climb mountains or just find somewhere where we can be together forever.  
You always wanted to see the world didn't you? It's your decision, it's all up to you right now! We can leave this behind and never come back if that's what you want! Whatever your choice, I will be there with you!"  
Tory looked into his eyes and kisses him again. "I love you!" Her voice was steadier now "but i could never feel fully at peace knowing that Capricorn could still be out there, surviving and hurting others! I just…" Tory's voice faltered for a moment "I don't know if I could harm him, but the least I want to do is make sure that he won't hurt others anymore!"  
Basta squeezed Tory's hand as they turned and started towards the village again. 

~~~~

"I suppose you fought it out?" Elody looked at the burly man in front of her, a few of the other henchmen were standing behind him, others seemed to be busy with tying up, and bringing a few other henchmen towards the cages that Capricorns usually kept for his victims.  
"We have." He gave her a crooked smile bearing a few bloody teeth "I suppose you came to a conclusion?"  
"We did" she smiled back at him, knowing that the other maids were standing all behind her. The ones that had escorted the young girls back home had already returned and together they had decided what the best for everyone would be.  
"Then I guess the only thing left to do is see if we're on the same page and wait for Basta and Tory!" The burly man grinned at Elody and held out a big hand "Deal!"

 

"Will he still be alive by the time we get there? I told him his death would be imminent." Tory looked at Basta with a mischievous glint in her eyes  
"It's more inevitable than imminent, the dose of poison on the knife wouldn't be enough to kill him quickly, I suppose without help he'd die in about two or three days, but the wound is probably infected since the crow is gone, he never permitted anyone else to touch him aside from her, and I don't think he ever learned how to tend to wounds on his own!"  
Basta squeezed her hand, "when did you become such an evil genius?" He laughed.  
Tory winked at him, slowly limping beside him "I guess you're rubbing off on me."  
Basta winced when she said that, and Tory quickly added "only in a good way, I'm learning to defend myself!"  
He had offered to carry Tory multiple times when she had told him about her twisted ankle, but she had refused, should someone try to attack them it would make both of them more vulnerable after all, they couldn't be sure that Capricorn hadn't changed his mind and now wanted both of them dead, however she couldn't resist holding his hand on the way back, he could stabilize her when she couldn't find footing on the soft path, he could help her walk and catch her when she stumbled and after a night on the cold ground his warmth was a welcome change.

Mist was hanging in thick clouds over the village in the valley when Basta and Tory arrived, giving it an eerie feeling.  
The village looked more dilapidated than usual, and the absence of guards made it appear ghost like, as if it had emerged from the mist and would disappear with it.  
Basta squeezed Tory's hand, "do you still have the knife I gave you?" Tory nodded her head, she didn't like the idea of fighting, especially not the people she had known most of her life, even less since no one had ever harmed her but she knew that it could happen, she quickly pushed those thoughts from her mind and thought about the other maids, girls that were found dead somewhere in the village or simply just disappeared until dogs were sent after them and dug them out in the close Forrest, she thought about the crying girls she sometimes saw through cracks in doors, rocking themselves back and forth and about the whispers that seemed to follow her every where she went in the village "she's lucky! The boss and his killer like her!" She thought about her friends and a wave of anxiety overcame her, would they be okay? Would Capricorn have sent men to hurt them? All those thoughts raced through her mind until she suddenly heard a small voice in the back of her mind that whispered "Maybe I would fight them after all!"

The entry way to Capricorns manor was lined with guards on one side, and maids on the other, everyone whispering.  
Walking up to the manor Tory and Basta were met with sceptic and sometimes hostile stares. Close to the entrance were Elody, Jenny and Gina carefully whispering towards Tory  
"He's waiting for you." 

 

The manor was quiet and dark when Basta lead Tory into a part she'd never been in.  
"I always thought he would live closer to his mother!" Tory quipped, "even he couldn't stand that old crow enough to have his rooms in her close vicinity!" Basta smiled at her before a shadow crept over his face "and every now and then he would make me bring a girl to him, I guess he didn't want his mother to know, and he told me to kill the girls right after..." Bastas voice broke of and Tory squeeze his hand trying to distract him from the dark corner his mind must have drifted to.

They rounded a corner and the manor changed, now there was a red carpet on the floor, that turned their loud footsteps into a muffled sound, unlike the loud noise that echoed from the barren walls in the other parts of the manor.  
Huge paintings in golden frames hang on the walls dimly illuminated by candelabras, most missing almost all of their candles, and dripping wax onto the floor from the few candles they had. They stopped in front of a heavy wooden door.  
"You don't have to go in there, it's not to late, we can still turn around and flee!"  
There was a certain urgency in Basta's hushed voice, but Tory shook her head. "He's wounded, and weak!"  
Basta held her back when Tory made a step towards the door "that makes him even more dangerous!"  
Tory looked Basta up and down, he had changed so much from the man he used to be, ever since the day she had overheard Capricorn and Basta talk in the great hall, on the outside he was still the same, still a ruthless killer striking fear into those that saw him, but she knew that when they were alone he was different! He was kind and caring, he made jokes and was loving, he was so much different from the man she had known back then, from the monster she had feared would steal her future.  
"Then stay by my side? Protect me once more?" Tory asked, voice nothing more than a hushed whisper, "I always will! " He replied, kissing her one last time.  
"Right, let's do this!" Tory said, reaching for the handle and opening the door.


	17. Capricorns wound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basta carefully motioned for Tory to wait on the threshold as he walked across the room and pushed the dirty window open.  
> A few rays of sunlight fell into the room and finally Tory could see the source of the stench.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for another short chapter, I'm still struggling with my writing block, I hope this still turned out okay, I'm trying to upload more regularly again

The first thing she noticed was the horrid smell that wafted out of the room when she opened the door.  
She carefully stepped inside and looked around, the room was almost empty, next to the door she had just come through was another door, Basta whispered into her ear that it lead to a bathroom and a walk-in closet, the room in front of her was kept in dark colors, the walls were black just like the furniture.  
There was a black desk standing next to the only window, opposite from it was a big bed.  
The only light in the room came from a chandelier completely filled with red candles.

Basta carefully motioned for Tory to wait on the threshold as he walked across the room and pushed the dirty window open.  
A few rays of sunlight fell into the room and finally Tory could see the source of the stench.

Capricorn lay on his bed, his leg hanging out from underneath the blood red covers, the wound open, oozing yellow-greenish pus and blood, the flesh on the rim of the wound had already started decaying. 

"Sir?" Tory slowly approached Capricorn, Basta always behind her, when Capricorn stayed motionless she carefully stretched out her hand towards him.  
"No!" Basta stopped her hand, "Don't touch him! I can do it, just tell me what you need."  
Tory slowly nodded "turn his head, he won't be able to breath like this, and feel his forehead, I need to know if he's got a fever."  
Tory carefully watched as Basta followed her instructions, telling him what to do, listening to Bastas responses to her whispered questions.  
Neither of them dared to raise their voices and wake the man in front of them. 

"So you are sure?" Tory nodded her head, carefully whispering her reply "the infection, the fever and his unconsciousness, all of those are symptoms of a Sepsis, if it would only be that I would give him a few days, without a cure, but the poison from the dagger seems to accelerate everything as well as killing him slowly, if we don't do anything he'll die, slowly…painfully barely conscious of what's happening around or to him." Tory turned towards Basta, who wrapped his arms around her softly. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"  
Tory carefully touched the frame of the door.

Basta had insisted on leaving the room for the conversation, and Tory was quite grateful, to have a break from the stench of decaying flesh.  
The open window did not as much as she wished, the air inside the room seemed stagnant and no wind blew around the manor, making it seem like Capricorns whole village was holding a tense breath, waiting for news. 

~~~  
"I wonder what's taking so long!" Elody looked at Gina with a worried expression.  
"Maybe the Boss killed your friend?" A smaller man with a rat like face grinned, "what's that?"  
The burly man next to Elody tensed his muscles "I thought we had agreed on something here, Rat?" The man apparently called rat peered at him viciously "I don't care what you agreed on with those..." He scoffed "Girls... But I still remember who I swore my loyalty to, Hank!"  
Hank made a step towards the smaller man, who quickly moved a step back, the girls started nervously shuffling their feet "I thought you had fought it out before! We had a deal!" Jenny's voice was shrill with fear "we have!" Hank growled, slowly prowling toward the smaller man, clenching his fists ready to fight. 

"Are you sure about this? If we do that, there won't be a second chance, no turning back, and who knows if the others would agree with that decision?" Basta looked shocked at Tory, her hands were shaking and she leaned against the wall for support.  
"I don't know! I never thought that one day I would hold a life in my hands like that! I don't know what to do Basta! I never planned anything like that! How am I supposed to decide something like that on my own?" Tory started shaking viciously and tears started to fall from her eyes. "I can't do it!"  
Basta bowed his head a little "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have put the pressure on you like that, that was unfair of me!" He slowly stepped into her personal space, taking her hands and searching her gaze "please forgive me?" Tory nodded her head slightly and hugged Basta close, his warmth was comforting, and his steady heartbeat helped her calm down.  
"what would you do?"  
Basta looked at her carefully, he thought about it for a moment "kill him here and now!"


	18. Update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> quick update

Hey everyone, just thought i`d let you know that the final chapters will sadly take some more time, i had already finished everything and was hoping to post them next week, finishing this story in time for my birthday, but since i wrote and saved everything on my phone, and my phone decided to break beyond repair....long story short i`ll have to re-write everything... i hope i can finish it soon!  
a big thank you to everyone who kept supporting me, read this and waitet through my writing block!  
lots of love!   
-Moonlightdance

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoy reading it, please leave a comment (and if you didn't leave constructive criticism)  
> Thank you for reading,  
> Love  
> -Moonlightdance


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